The  Peril  of  Racial  Prejudice 

A  Statement  to  the  Public 

The  undersigned  citizens  of  Gentile  birth  and  Chris- 
tian faith,  view  with  profound  regret  and  disapproval 
the  appearance  in  this  country  of  what  is  apparently 
an  organized  campaign  of  anti-Semitism,  conducted  in 
close  conformity  to  and  co-operation  with  similar  cam- 
paigns in  Europe.  We  regret  exceedingly  the  publica- 
tion of  a  number  of  books,  pamphlets  and  newspaper 
articles  designed  to  foster  distrust  and  suspicion  of  our 
fellow-citizens  of  Jewish  ancestry  and  faith — distrust 
and    suspicion   of  their  loyalty   and   their  patriotism. 

These  publications,  to  which  wide  circulation  is 
being  given,  are  thus  introducing  into  our  national 
political  life  a  new  and  dangerous  spirit,  one  that  is 
wholly  at  variance  with  our  traditions  and  ideals  and 
subversive  of  our  system  of  government.  American 
citizenship  and  American  democracy  are  thus  chal- 
lenged and  menaced.  We  protest  against  this  organ- 
ized campaign  of  prejudice  and  hatred,  not  only  be- 
cause of  its  manifest  injustice  to  those  against  whom 
it  is  directed,  but  also,  and  especially,  because  we  are 
convinced  that  it  is  wholly  incompatible  with  loyal  and 
intelligent  American  citizenship.  The  logical  outcome 
of  the  success  of  such  a  campaign  must  necessarily  be 
the  division  of  our  citizens  along  racial  and  religious 
lines,  and,  ultimately,  the  introduction  of  religious 
tests  and  qualifications  to  determine  citizenship. 

The  loyalty  and  patriotism  of  our  fellow  citizens  of 
the  Jewish  faith  is  equal  to  that  of  any  part  of  our  peo- 
ple, and  requires  no  defense  at  our  hands.  From  the 
foundation  of  this  Republic  down  to  the  recent  World 
War,  men  and  wo.men  of  Jewish  ancestry  and  faich  have 
taken  an  honorable  part  in  building  up  this  great  nation 
and  maintaining  its  prestige  and  honor  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  world.     There  is  not  the  slightest  justi- 


fication,  therefore,  for  a  campaign  of  anti-Semitism  in 
this  country. 

Anti-Semitism  is  almost  invariably  associated  with 
lawlessness  and  with  brutality  and  injustice.  It  is  also 
invariably  found  closely  intertwined  with  other  sinister 
forces,  particularly  those  which  are  corrupt,  reactionary 
and  oppressive. 

We  believe  it  should  not  be  left  to  men  and  women 
of  Jewish  faith  to  fight  this  evil,  but  that  it  is  in  a  very 
special  sense  the  duty  of  citizens  who  are  not  Jews  by 
ancestry  or  faith.  We  therefore  make  earnest  protest 
against  this  vicious  propaganda,  and  call  upon  our  fel- 
low citizens  of  Gentile  birth  and  Christian  faith  to 
unite  their  efforts  to  ours,  to  the  end  that  it  may  be 
crushed.  In  particular,  we  call  upon  all  those  who  are 
molders  of  public  opinion — the  clergy  and  ministers  of 
all  Christian  churches,  publicists,  teachers,  editors  and 
statesmen — to  strike  at  this  un-American  and  un-Chris- 
tian  agitation. 

Signed: 

WOODROW  WILSON. 
WILLIAM   HOWARD  TAFT. 
WILLIAM   CARDINAL  O'CONNELL. 
LYMAN  ABBOTT,  Editor  "  The  Outlook." 
JANE   ADD  AM  S,  Social  Worker. 
JOHN    G.    AGAR,  Lazvyer. 
NEWTON   D.    BAKER,  Ex  Secretary  of  War. 
RAY   STANNARD    BAKER,  Author. 
CHARLES   A.    BE\RD,  .huhor  and  Educator. 
JAMES    M.    BECK,  Lawyer. 

BERNARD    I.    BELL,  President  St.  Stephen's  College. 
ARTHUR    E.    BESTOR,  President  Chautauqua  Institution. 
ALBERT  J.    BEVERIDGE,  Former  U.  S.  Senator. 
W.    E.    B.    DUBOIS,  Editor  "  The  Crisis." 
MABEL  T.    BOMWMAlSi,  Commissioner  D.  of  C. 
EVANGELINE    BOO'l'H,  Commander  Salvation  Jrmy. 
BENJAMIN  BREWSTER,  Bishop  of  Maine. 
CHAUNCEY    B.    XiRV.W^'WiR,  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 
JEFFREY    R.    BRACKETT,  Social  Worker. 
HORACE   J.    BRIDGES,  Ethical  Teacher. 
'  WILLIAM    TENNINCJS    BRYAN,  Ex-U.  S.  Secretary  of  State. 
HENRY    BRUERE,  Financial  Expert. 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER,  President  Columbia  University. 
BAINBRIDGE    COLBY,  Ex  Secretary  of  State. 


GEORGE  W.  COLEMAN,  President  National  Council  of  Forums. 
ALICE    B.   COLEMAN  (Mrs.  (George  W.),  Club  Worker. 
PAUL   D.   CRAVATH,  Lawyer. 
GEORGE  CREEL,  Former  Chairman   U.  S.  Committee  on  Public 

hiformation. 
SAMUEL   McCHORD   CROTHERS,  Clergyman. 
R.    FULTON    CUrriNG.  Financier. 
OLIVE  TILFORD    DARCiAN,  Poet. 
CLARENCE    DARRO^,  Lawyer. 
JAMES    R.    DAY,  University  Chancellor. 
HENRY   S.    DENNISON,  Manufacturer. 
TAMES    DUNCAN,  First  rice  President  A.  F.  of  L. 
ROBERT    ERSKINE    ELY,  Director  Civic  Forum. 
CHARLES    P.    FAGNANI,  Theologian. 
W.    H.    FAUNCE,  President  Brown  University. 
DOROTHY   CANFIELD   FISHER,  iVoz;^//j/. 
IRVING    FISHER,  Economist. 
JOHN   ¥ORD,  Jurist. 
RAYMOND   B.    FOSDICK,  Lawyer. 
■ROBERT    FROST,  Poet. 
JAMES    R.   GARFIELD,  Lawyer. 
H.    A.    GARFIELD,  President  'fVilliams  College. 
LINDLEY   M.    GARRISON,  Former  U.  S.  Secretary  of  War. 
JOHN    PALMER   GAVIT,  Editor  New  York  "Evening  Post." 
HERBERT  ADAMS   GIBBONS,  Historian. 
CHARLES   DANA  GIBSON,  Artist. 
FRANKLIN   H.   GIDDINGS,  University  Professor. 
MARTIN   H.   GLYNN,  Ex-Governor  New  Y'ork. 
(lEORGE  GRAY,  Jurist.. 

EDWARD   EVERETT   HALE,  University  Professor. 
JAMES    HARTNESS,  Governor  of  Vermont. 
PATRICK   J.    HAYES,  Archbishop  of  New  York. 
JOHN   GRIER    HIBBEN,  President  Princeton  University. 
JOHN   HAYNES   HOLMES,  Clergyman. 
JESSE   H.   HOLMES,   President  National  Federation  of  Religious 

Liberals. 
HAMILTON   HOLT,  Editor  "  The  Independent." 
ERNEST  MARTIN   HOPKINS,  President  Dart?nouth  College. 
FREDERIC  C.   HOWE,  Publicist. 
HENRY  C.   IDE,  Diplomatist. 
INEZ   HAYNES   IRWIN,  Author. 
WILL  IRWIN,  Author. 
GEORGE   R.   JAMES,  Capitalist. 
DAVID   STARR   JORDAN,  Scientist. 
WILLIAM    W.    KEEN,  Professor  of  Surgery. 
PAUL    U.    KELLOGG,  Editor '' The  Survey." 
WILLIAM   SERGEANT   KENDALL,  Artist. 
GEORGE   KENNAN,  Journalist. 
HENRY  CHURCHILL  KING,  President  Oberlin  College. 


DARWIN     P.     KINGSLEY,  President  New  York  Life  Insurance 
Company, 

W.    P.,  LADD,  Dean  Berkeley  Divinity  School. 

IRA   LANDRITH,  Prohibition  Advocate. 

FRANKLIN    K.    LANE,  Former  U.  S.  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

ROBERT   LANSING,  Former  U.  S.  Secretary  of  State. 

JULIA  C.  LATHROP,  Chief  Children's  Bureau,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Labor. 

BEN    B.    LINDSEY,  Juvenile  Court  Judge. 

CHARLES    H.    LEVERMORE,  Peace  Advocate. 

FREDERICK  LYNCH,  Clergyman. 

EDWIN   MARKHAM,  Poet. 

MRS.    EDWIN   MARKHAM,  Writer. 

DANIEL   GREGORY   MASON,  Musical  Composer. 

JOSEPH    ERNEST   McAFEE,  Religious  Publicist. 

J.    F.^  McELWAIN,  Manufacturer. 

RAYMOND   McFARLAN'D,  Principal  Vermont  Academy. 

ALEXANDER   R.   MERRIAM,  Theologian. 

E.    T.    MEREDITH,  Secretary  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture. 

JAMES   F.   MINTURN, /M^g^. 

JOHN    MOODY,  Financial  Expert. 

WILLIAM   FELLOWES   MORGAN,  Financier. 

CHARLES      CLAYTON      MORRISON,   Editor   "The   Christian 
Century." 

PHILIP   STAFFORD   MOXOM,  Clergyman. 

JOSEPH   FORT  NEWTON,  Clergyman. 

D.   J.   O'CONNELL,  Bishop  of  Richmond. 

MARY   BOYLE  O'REILLY,  Publicist. 

GEORGE  WHARTON   PEPPER,  Lawyer. 

LOUIS    F.    POST,  Assistant  Secretary  of'.Labor  U.  S. 
'THEODORE   ROOSEVELT,  Member  of  New  York  Legislature. 

CHARLES   EDWARD   RUSSELL,  PwWiVu^ 
JACOB   GOULD   SCHURMAN,  Educator. 
'VIDA    D.    SCUDDER,  University  Professor. 

SAMUEL  SEABURY,  Jurist. 

THOMAS  J.   ^WMINN,  Rector  of  the  Catholic  University  of  America. 

CHARGES   M.   SHELDON,  Editor  "  The  Christian  Herald." 

EDWIN    E.    SLOSSON,  Associate  Editor  "  The  Independent." 

PRESTON   SLOSSON,  Journalist. 

JOHN  SPARGO,  Author. 

ROBERT    E.    S?EER,  President  Federal  Council  of  Churches. 

CHARLES   STELZLE,  Religious  Publicist. 

PAUL   MOORE   STRAYER,  Clergyman. 

MARION  TALBOT,  University  Dean. 

IDA    M.   TARBELL,  Author. 

HARRY   F.   WARD,  Throloojcal  Professor. 

EVERETT   P.   WHEFA.YX  Lawyer. 

(^.AYLORD   S.   WHITE,  Social  Worker. 

CJEORC^E  W.   WICKERSHAM,  Ex-Attomey-Ceneral  of  U.  S. 

CHARLES    DAVID  WILLIAMS,  Bishop  of  Michigan.' 

CHARLES  ZUEBLIN,  Writer  and  Lecturer. 


SOUTHERN    r.R.X^irf-/ 

IJNIVERSfTY  OF  CA  JFui^NM 

LIBRARY 

LOS   ANGELES.  CALIF. 


THE  JEW  AND 
AMERICAN   IDEALS 


Books  by 
JOHN  SPARGO 

THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

"THE  GREATEST  FAILURE  IN  ALL  HISTORY" 

RUSSIA  AS  AN  AMERICAN  PROBLEM 

THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  BOLSHEVISM 

BOLSHEVISM 

AMERICANISM  AND  SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY 

SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY  EXPLAINED 


HARPER  &   BROTHERS,  NEW   YORK 
[Established  1817] 


THE  JEW 

AND 

AMERICAN  IDEALS 


BY 

JOHN  SPARGO        \ 

Author  of 

"Bolshevism"  "The  Psychology  of  Bolshevism"  y 

"Russia  as    an  American   Problem"  "The 

Greatest  Failure  in  AH  History""Social 

Democracy    Explained"    Etc. 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 

NEW    YORK   AND    LONDON 


The  Jew  and  American  Ideals 

Copyright,   1921,  by  Harper  &   Brothera 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

F-V 


>^5 
o  73  \ 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PACE 

Foreword vii 

I.  A  Pacifist  Turned  Anti-Semite i 

II.  The  Alleged  "Great  Jewish  Conspiracy"    ,  lo 

III.  The  Mystery  of  the  Protocols i8 

IV.  Is  Socialism  a  Jewish  Conspiracy?  ....  47 
V        The  Jewish  Socialists  and  Bolshevism     .     . .    59 

VI.  Bolshevism  and  the  Jews 83 

VII.  The  Vicious  Role  of  Anti-Semitism      ...  99 

VIII.  What  Anti-Semitism  in  America  Means    .     .  no 

IX.  We  Need  the  Co-operation  of  Christian  and 

Jew 121 

X.  A  Final  Word 136 

Postscript 140 


FOREWORD 

This  little  book  was  written  without  the 
knowledge  of  any  Jew.  It  is  not  a  defense 
of  the  Jew.  It  is  not  a  pro-Jewish  argu- 
ment. It  is  a  defense  of  American  ideals 
and  institutions  against  anti-Semitism;  a 
plea  for  Christian  civilization. 

John  Spargo. 

"  Nestledown," 

Old  Bennington,  Vermont. 

January,  iq2I. 


THE   JEW  AND 
AMERICAN   IDEALS 


THE  JEW  AND 
AMERICAN   IDEALS 


A   PACIFIST   TURNED   ANTI-SEMITE 

ABOUT  five  years  ago  I  was  honored  by 
.  an  invitation  to  join  with  a  well- 
known  American  capitalist  and  certain 
other  men  and  women  in  an  attempt  to 
bring  about  the  termination  of  the  great 
World  War.  The  manufacturer  in  question 
believed  that  it  was  possible  to  "get  the 
boys  out  of  the  trenches  by  Christmas,"  and 
to  that  end  organized  an  expedition  which 
is  now  remembered  chiefly  for  the  belli- 
cosity and  belligerency  of  many  of  the 
"pacifists"  who  journeyed  to  Europe  upon 
the  "Peace  Ship." 


THE   JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

In  declining  the  invitation  to  associate 
myself  with  this  expedition,  I  felt  that  it 
was  incumbent  upon  me  to  explain  that, 
while  I  doubted  the  wisdom  of  the  vinder- 
taking  and  felt  that  it  might  do  harm 
instead  of  good,  I  honored  the  noble  and 
unselfish  motives  by  which  Mr.  Ford  was 
inspired.  His  hatred  of  war  and  blood- 
shed, and  his  desire  to  promote  peace  and 
good  will  among  all  peoples  and  races, 
seemed  to  me  to  be  both  profound  and  sin- 
cere and  evoked  my  heartfelt  admiration 
and  sympathy.  The  more  I  doubted  his 
political  judgment — ^believing  that  he  was 
being  used  as  a  dupe  and  tool  in  a  very 
dangerous  intrigue — the  more  willing  I  was 
to  acknowledge  those  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart  which  distinguished  the  famous  manu- 
facturer, and  which  the  authors  of  the  in- 
trigue sought  to  exploit  and  use  for  sinister 
ends.  On  many  occasions  I  have  given 
public  expression  to  my  belief  in  Mr.  Ford's 
sincere  and  unselfish  idealism. 

If  any  justification  is  required  for  my 


A  PACIFIST  TURNED  ANTI-SEMITE 

now  associating  the  name  of  Henry  Ford 
with  a  matter  of  grave  international  po- 
Htical  importance,  I  venture  to  suggest  that 
it  can  be  found  in  the  pre-eminent  position 
which  he  occupies  in  one  of  the  great 
branches  of  modem  industry  and  in  the  fact 
that  as  recently  as  two  years  ago  he  aspired 
to  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate,  being 
nominated  for  that  position  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  the  great  state  of  Michigan. 
Upon  both  counts  views  expressed  by  Mr. 
Ford  upon  international  questions  which 
may  involve  great  and  serious  national  or 
racial  conflicts  become  the  subject  of  legit- 
imate public  interest,  and  when  in  further- 
ance of  such  views  he  associates  himself 
with  an  active  policy  which  deals  with  one 
of  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  prob- 
lems confronting  civilized  mankind,  his 
views  and  his  acts  assume  public  importance 
and  invite  and  compel  attention  and  dis- 
cussion. Therefore,  believing  as  I  do  that 
Mr.  Ford  is  primarily  responsible  for  a 
propaganda  which  is  subversive  of  the  best 

3 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

traditions  and  institutions  of  this  Republic, 
and  which  has  everywhere  and  at  all  times 
resulted  in  shameful  crimes  against  hu- 
manity, and  in  resistance  to  every  progres- 
sive and  humane  movement,  I  feel  that  it  is 
my  right  and  duty  to  utter  my  solemn 
remonstrance  and  protest. 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  tour  through 
several  of  the  European  coimtries  most 
seriously  involved  in  the  late  war.  On  the 
one  hand,  I  was  deeply  and  gratefully  im- 
pressed while  in  Europe  with  the  manner  in 
which  some  of  the  intensest  hatreds  en- 
gendered by  the  war  appear  to  be  dying  out. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  was  deeply  and  pain- 
fully impressed  by  the  fact  that,  in  country 
after  country,  racial  hatreds  older  than  any 
nation  in  the  world  were  being  deliberately 
and  systematically  revived  and  intensified, 
threatening  brutal  and  ugly  crimes  against 
humanity  exceeding  in  horror  the  worst 
and  most  inhuman  violence  of  the  Great 
War  which  so  nearly  achieved  the  ruin  of 
civilization.     In  Germany,  for  example,  I 

4 


A   PACIFIST  TURNED  ANTI-SEMITE 

found  no  hatred  of  America,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  alone  among  the  nations 
lately  fighting  against  her  we  were  still 
technically  at  war  with  her.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  was  manifest  an  almost  uni- 
versal desire  for  the  restoration  of  friend- 
ship between  the  two  countries.  In  Bel- 
gium I  saw  hundreds  of  little  German  chil- 
dren being  fed  by  Belgian  agencies,  proving 
that  hate  was  being  dissolved  by  compas- 
sion. Even  in  France  the  fierce  hatred  of 
Germany  was  obviously  dying. 

So  much  for  the  bright  side  of  the 
European  situation  as  I  saw  it.  Unfor- 
tunately, to  complete  the  picture,  it  is 
necessary  to  acknowledge  the  numerous 
evidences  of  a  widespread  revival  of  one  of 
the  most  despicable,  brutal,  and  dangerous 
forms  of  racial  hatred  and  antagonism 
known  to  mankind — anti-Semitism.  Even 
in  England,  long  hitherto  so  free  from  Jew- 
baiting,  the  land  in  which  the  Jew  Disraeli 
became  Prime  Minister,  I  found  an  exten- 
sive, active,  and  skillfully  organized  cam- 

S 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

paign  directed  against  Jews,  as  Jews.  It 
was  and  is  a  campaign  differing  hardly  at 
all  from  similar  campaigns  against  the 
Jews  in  Russia  under  tsarism,  in  Rumania, 
in  Poland,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  in  Germany 
under  the  Hohenzollerns.  Unless  this  prop- 
aganda is  checked,  unless  the  intelligence 
and  the  conscience  of  England  can  be 
marshaled  against  it,  England  will  take  the 
place  of  the  Russia  of  the  Romanovs  as  the 
land  of  pogroms,  and  infamies  like  the  hor- 
rible pogroms  of  Kishinev  may  occur  in 
British  cities. 

I  found  in  England  great  nation-wide 
organizations,  obviously  well  financed,  de- 
voted to  the  sinister  purpose  of  creating 
anti- Jewish  feeling  and  sentiment.  I  found 
special  articles  in  influential  newspapers 
devoted  to  the  same  evil  purpose.  I  found 
at  least  one  journal,  obviously  well  financed 
again,  exclusively  devoted  to  the  fostering 
of  suspicion,  fear,  and  hatred  against  the 
Jew.  Nothing  that  the  Black  Hundreds 
of  Russia  under  the  tsars  said  of  the  Jews, 

6 


A  PACIFIST  TURNED  ANTI-SEMITE 

in  order  to  inflame  the  ignorant  masses  and 
inspire  them  to  savage  attacks  upon  the 
Jewish  population,  could  have  been  worse 
than  much  of  this  propaganda.  It  appealed 
to  every  passion,  charged  the  Jews  as  a  race 
with  every  crime  calculated  to  rouse  the 
frenzied  anger  of  the  non- Jewish  popula- 
tion. And  in  the  bookstores  I  discovered 
a  whole  library  of  books  devoted  to  the 
same  end.  One  of  the  greatest  living  states- 
men of  England,  who  is  not  a  Jew,  told  me 
that  in  his  judgment  this  systematically 
propagated  anti-Semitism  is  likely  to  bring 
greater  difficulty  and  shame  to  England 
than  the  Irish  question,  even. 

And  now,  retimiing  to  the  United  States, 
I  find  America  confronted  by  the  same  peril 
and  shame.  Here,  too,  I  find  anti-Jewish 
meetings  being  held.  To  my  great  aston- 
ishment and  regret,  I  find  that  the  personal 
influence  and  the  vast  fortune  of  the  erst- 
while pacifist-philanthropist  are  apparently 
enlisted  in  the  same  cruel  and  vicious 
propaganda.  The  Dearborn  Independent,. 
2  7 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

which  is  the  personal  organ  of  Mr.  Henry 
Ford,  maintained  for  the  promtdgation  of 
his  personal  political  and  sociological  views» 
has  been  devoting  a  large  amount  of  its 
space  to  the  creation  of  anti- Jewish  feeling 
and  sentiment.  One  of  the  first  pieces  of 
accimiulated  mail  to  claim  my  attention  on 
my  return  was  a  pamphlet,  sent  to  me  by 
some  unknown  correspondent,  obviously  a 
Jew  hater  in  view  of  the  coarse  and  brutal 
comments  written  upon  the  margins.  This 
pamphlet  contains  a  reprint  of  nine  articles 
which  originally  appeared  in  the  Dearborn 
hidependent.  It  is,  therefore,  apparently 
impossible  for  Mr.  Ford  to  disclaim  personal 
and  direct  responsibility  for  the  contents  of 
the  pamphlet.  If  I  am  wrong  in  any  of 
these  particulars  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  be 
corrected  and  to  apologize  for  the  error. 
To  find  any  American  engaged  in  such  a 
propaganda  seems  to  me  such  a  pity  and 
such  an  outrage  against  our  national  ideals 
that  I  should  welcome  proof  that  my  in- 
formation  and   inferences    are   all   wrong 

8 


A  PACIFIST  TURNED  ANTI-SEMITE 

and  unfoiinded  so  fax  as  Mr.  Ford  is  con- 
cerned. 

In  this  discussion  of  the  anti-Semitic 
propaganda,  and  of  the  share  of  the  Dear- 
horn  Independent  in  that  propaganda,  I  have 
not  the  sHghtest  intention  of  attacking  Mr. 
Ford  personally.  While  I  find  myself 
deeply  interested  in  the  psychology  of  the 
transformation  of  an  extremely  idealistic 
pacifist  into  an  aggressive  propagandist  of 
race  hatred,  with  that  I  am  not  here  and 
now  concerned. 


II 

THE  ALLEGED  "GREAT  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY" 

JUST  as  in  the  case  of  the  British  anti- 
Semitic  press,  the  Jew  -  baiting  cam- 
paign in  the  Dearborn  Independent  and  other 
newspapers  makes  much  of  the  so-called 
"protocols"  of  the  Wise  Men  of  Zion,  first 
published  in  Russia  in  1905,  but  lately 
translated  into  English  and  published  in 
England  and  the  United  States.  In  a  sense 
it  is  not  my  business  to  expose  the  dubious 
origin  and  history  of  these  documents.  That 
is  a  Jewish  task,  to  which  various  Jewish 
scholars  have  devoted  their  attention.  In 
the  London  Spectator  Mr.  Lucien  Wolff  has 
performed  it  with  distinction.  I  am  not  a 
Jew,  racially  or  otherwise,  and  can  lay  no 
claim  to  any  special  ability  or  knowledge 
which  would  impose  such  a  task  upon  me. 

TO 


"GREAT  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY" 

There  are,  however,  some  things  which  must 
be  said  concerning  the  above-mentioned 
protocols,  things  which  do  not  require 
specialized  scholarship,  and  which  even  the 
non-Jew  can  say  with  confidence. 

These  protocols  are  offered  as  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  a  world-wide  conspiracy 
far  more  serious  and  extensive  than  any- 
thing else  of  the  kind  recorded  in  history. 
By  comparison,  the  greatest  conspiracy 
hitherto  revealed  seems  like  a  kindergarten 
game.  It  is  charged,  and  these  documents 
■v  are  submitted  as  evidence  in  support  of  the 
charge,  that  there  exists,  and  has  existed 
for  centuries,  a  Jewish  imperialistic  pro- 
gram; that  Jews  in  all  lands  have  been  and 
are  imited  in  a  highly  organized  and  subtly 
directed  secret  movement  to  bring  about 
the  overthrow  of  all  non- Jewish  govern^ 
ments,  to  substitute  therefor  a  Jewish 
world  government,  to  obliterate  all  national 
boimdaries,  and  to  destroy  all  religions 
other  than  Judaism,  t^  This,  it  is  alleged,  is 

the  concrete  form  in  which  the  Jews  visual- 

II 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

ize  their  destiny  as  the  Chosen  People.  In 
order  to  attain  this  grandiose  ideal,  every 
means  to  weaken  the  non- Jewish  elements 
and  institutions  in  civilization  is  encouraged 
by  the  invisible  Jewish  government,  the 
leaders  of  this  vast  conspiracy. 

If  we  are  to  place  credence  in  these  docu- 
ments, the  principal  agency  through  which 
the  Jewish  conspirators  have  worked  is 
Freemasonry.  The  Masonic  orders  through- 
out the  world  have  been  the  blind  dupes  and 
tools  of  this  superimperialism  of  the  Jews, 
if  the  statements  made  in  these  protocols 
are  true.  Indeed,  there  can  hardly  be  any 
question  at  all  that  if  the  truth  of  these  docu- 
ments can  be  established,  there  is,  to  say 
the  least,  quite  as  much  reason  for  suppress- 
ing Masonic  lodges,  and  making  them  ille- 
gal, as  there  is  for  suppressing  Bolshevist 
or  other  conspiratory  organizations.  I 
should  just  as  little  expect  to  find  sympathy 
for  Bolshevism  in  a  Masonic  lodge  as  in  the 
College  of  Cardinals,  or  in  the  Union'  League 
Club,  let  us  say.    When  we  enter  into  the 

12 


"GREAT  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY" 

mysteries  of  this  "Jewish  conspiracy"  we 
encounter  many  surprises. 

According  to  the  statements  made  in 
these  protocols,  practically  all  the  revolu- 
tionary movements  of  modem  times  have 
been  instigated  and  directed  by  Jews.  They 
have  caused  the  assassination  of  rulers  and 
heads  of  states,  so  that  behind  the  murder- 
ous fanaticism  of  individuals  there  has  gen- 
erally been  the  cold  calculation  of  the  most 
cunning  and  imscrupulous  intellects  of  the 
human  race.  According  to  the  same  evi- 
dence, the  wars  which  have  drenched  the 
world  with  blood  and  rent  it  with  passion, 
including  racial  wars  in  Asia  and  Africa,  the 
Franco- Prussian  War  of  1870,  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War,  and  the  recent  World  War, 
were  all  brought  about  dehberately  by  Jew- 
ish cunning,  for  the  purpose  of  weakening 
the  fabric  of  non- Jewish  states  and  pro- 
viding the  Jews  with  new  sources  of  strength 
and  power  to  be  used  to  establish  their 
universal  dominion. 

All  this  is  terrible  enough.  But  there  is 
13 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

even  worse  to  follow.  We  must  remember 
that  these  documents  were  first  published 
in  Russia  in  1905,  and  they  purport  to  be 
the  proces-verhaux  of  a  conference  held  eight 
or  nine  years  prior  to  that  time.  It  is  rather 
startling,  therefore,  to  find  outlined  therein 
a  program  of  revolutionary  action,  to  be 
initiated  in  Russia  and  developed  through- 
out the  civilized  world,  remarkably  like  the 
Bolshevist  program,  not  merely  in  the  pre- 
cise measures  contained  in  the  program, 
but  also,  and  especially,  in  the  general  con- 
ception of  policy  imderlying  it.  We  find  in 
this  alleged  Jewish  program  the  same  nega- 
tion of  all  the  accepted  principles  of  law 
and  honor  and  morality  that  the  Bolshevist 
policy  has  so  conspicuously  manifested.  It 
is  brazenly  stated  that  bribery,  deceit,  and 
treachery  are  to  be  used  (Protocol  i).  A 
vast  army  of  spies  and  secret  agents  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  funds  is  to  be  relied 
on  to  promote  revolt  and  dissension  in  all 
the  principal  countries  (Protocol  2).  "Fcf- 
ments,  discords,  and  hostility"  are  to  be 

14 


"GREAT  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY" 

deliberately  created  and  fostered  through- 
out Europe  and,  through  the  international 
relations  of  the  European  countries,  to  the 
other  continents  also  (Protocol  7).  Efforts 
are  to  be  made  to  compromise  the  honor  and 
besmirch  the  reputations  of  the  most  influ- 
ential statesmen  and  to  use  blackmail  in 
order  to  make  these  statesmen  serve  the 
piuposes  of  the  conspirators  (Protocol  10). 
Revolutionary  movements,  anarchistic, 
communistic,  and  socialistic,  are  to  be  fos- 
tered for  the  purpose  of  destroying  non- 
Jewish  civilization  (Protocol  3).  In  the 
event  of  unfavorable  action  by  any  power 
or  group  of  powers,  it  is  to  be  met  by  re- 
sistance in  the  form  of  universal  war  (Pro- 
tocol 7).  Disorganization  of  the  economic 
life  of  the  world  through  the  debasement 
and  ruin  of  the  credit  and  currency  systems, 
of  the  principal  nations,  and  the  creation  of 
"a  tmiversal  economic  crisis"  are  also  to  be 
used  to  the  same  end,  (Protocol  3). 

I  have  briefly  summarized  only  a  few  of 
the  more  important  items  in  this  monstrous 

15 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

program.  There  is  more  of  the  same  general 
tjT^e  of  fiendishness.  Concerning  the  char- 
acter of  the  program  itself,  there  can  be  no 
difference  of  opinion  between  honest  Amer- 
icans. It  is  as  diabolical  as  it  is  fantastic. 
What  importance  we  ought  to  attach  to  it, 
however,  must  necessarily  depend  upon  our, 
judgment  concerning  its  origin.  If  these 
protocols,  and  the  program  contained  in 
them,  are  to  be  seriously  accepted  for  what 
they  pretend  to  be — namely,  a  deliberate 
statement  of  the  purposes  and  aims  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Jewish  people  throughout  the 
world,  with  practically  the  entire  Jewish 
race  behind  them — then  the  matter  assumes 
enormous  importance.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  no  substantial  evidence  of 
this — ^and  such  evidence  as  is  available  indi- 
cates that  the  protocols  are  the  product  of  a 
single  diseased  and  depraved  mind — ^the 
documents  cease  to  possess  any  great  signifi- 
cance and  the  terrible  injustice  and  fright- 
fully dangerous  consequences  of  charging 
them  against  the  Jewish  people  are  obvious. 

i6 


"GREAT  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY" 

We  must,  therefore,  pay  critical  attention  to 
the  origin  of  the  protocols  and  the  circum- 
stances surrounding  their  publication,  as 
well  as  to  any  internal  evidences  of  their 
genuineness  or  otherwise. 


Ill 

THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

FIRST  of  all,  then,  what  do  we  actiially 
know  about  the  origin  of  these  proto- 
cols? In  the  year  1903  a  book  was  published 
at  Solotarevo  in  Russia,  entitled  The  Great 
in  Little.  The  reputed  author  of  the  book 
was  one  Prof.  Sergei  Nilus,  concerning 
whom  we  have  no  absolutely  reliable  infor- 
mation. Author  of  a  book  which  has  made 
an  enormous  sensation  in  many  lands  and 
become  the  subject  of  furious  controversy, 
he  is  quite  unknown.  No  responsible  person 
in  or  out  of  Russia  has  ever  positively  iden- 
tified Nilus,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
discover.  From  what  he  says  of  himself  it 
is  practically  certain  that  he  was  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  infamous  Secret  Police  Agency 
of  the  late  Tsar  Nicholas  II.     For  reasons 

18 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

which  will  presently  appear,  I  am  disposed 
to  believe  that  the  very  un- Russian  name 
Nilus  is  really  a  pseudonym. 

In  a  second  edition  of  his  book,  published 
in  1905,  Nilus  gives  a  brief  autobiographical 
account  of  himself.  He  says  that  he  was 
bom  in  1862  of  Russian  parents  who 
held  liberal  opinions,  and  that  his  family 
was  well  known  in  Moscow,  its  members 
being  educated  people  who  were  firm  in 
their  allegiance  to  the  Tsar  and  the  Greek 
Church.  This  is  hardly  what  a  Russian 
of  the  period  would  describe  as  holding 
"liberal  opinions,"  but  let  that  pass.  Nilus 
claims  to  have  been  graduated  from  Moscow 
University  and  to  have  held  a  number  of 
civil-service  posts,  all  of  them,  so  far  as  his 
specifications  go,  connected  with  the  police 
and  judicial  systems.  He  went  to  the 
government  of  Orel,  where  he  became  a 
landowner  and  a  sort  of  petty  noble. 
He  entered  the  Troitsky-Sergevsky  Mon- 
astery, near  Moscow,  or  so  he  says.  Al- 
though numerous  efforts  have  been  made 

ig 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

in  Russia  to  find  this  Sergei  Nilus,  none 
has  succeeded. 

It  is  true  that  a  number  of  persons  have 
testified  to  the  existence  of  Sergei  Nilus,  but 
in  each  case  a  different  person  has  been  re- 
ferred to,  though  Nilus  is  not  a  Russian 
name  or  commonly  foimd  in  Russia.  The 
present  writer  learned  of  two  men,  father 
and  son,  each  bearing  this  very  unusual 
name.  First  information  led  to  the  behef 
that  at  last  the  mysterious  author  had  been 
discovered.  The  father  was  of  about  the 
right  age  and  was  said  to  be  a  writer  inter- 
ested in  religious  subjects.  Fm*ther  inquiry 
elicited  the  information  that  this  man  had 
died  in  1910,  whereas  the  Nilus  we  are  in- 
terested in  was  alive  as  late  as  191 7. 
Greatly  enlarged  editions  of  his  work,  with 
new  personal  matter  added,  appeared  in 
191 1  and  191 7.  Obviously,  therefore,  the 
man  who  died  in  1910  was  not  our  author. 
The  anonymous  editor  of  an  edition  of  the 
protocols  issued  in  New  York  toward  the 
end  of  1920  says  that  ''a  returning  traveler 

20 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

from  Siberia  in  August,  19 19,  was  positive 
that  Nilus  was  in  Irkutsk  in  June  of  that 
year."  No  clew  is  given  to  the  identity  of 
the  editor  who  makes  this  statement.  And 
here  let  me  remark  in  passing  that  it  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  all  the  editors  of  the 
nimierous  editions  of  the  protocols,  both 
here  and  abroad,  are  very  shy  persons  and 
hide  imder  the  mask  of  anonymity.  Nor  is 
any  clew  given  to  the  identity  of  the 
traveler  from  Siberia.  Another  report,  also 
by  a  traveler  returned  from  Siberia,  who 
may  possibly  be  the  same  person,  makes  it 
appear  that  the  Nilus  who  was  at  Irkutsk 
is  the  son  of  the  man  who  died  in  19 10,  and 
is  himself  too  young  to  fit  the  autobio- 
graphical sketch  of  the  man  born  in  1862. 
I  can  only  add  to  the  foregoing,  which 
represents  all  that  I  have  been  able  to  find 
out  about  Nilus,  that  there  was  an  edition 
of  the  protocols  published  in  Kishinev  in 
1906,  the  name  of  the  author  of  the  book  in 
which  they  appeared  being  given  as  Butmi 
de  Katzman. 

21 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Now  with  respect  to  the  protocols.  No 
reference  to  these  documents  appeared  in 
the  first  edition  of  the  book  in  1903.  If  the 
reader  will  kindly  bear  this  fact  in  mind  it 
will  help  to  an  understanding  of  what  fol- 
lows. A  second  edition  of  the  book,  greatly 
enlarged,  appeared  at  Tsarskoye-Selo,  near 
Moscow,  in  1905,  the  added  matter  being 
given  the  title,  "Antichrist  a  Near  Political 
Possibility."  This  additional  matter  con- 
sisted of  (i)  an  introduction  written  by 
Nilus  himself,  (2)  twenty-four  documents 
purporting  to  be  disconnected  portions  of 
the  report  of  a  secret  conclave  of  an  organi- 
zation of  Jews  called  the  Elders  of  Zion,  and 
(3)  some  commentaries  thereon  by  Nilus. 
Now,  it  is  very  significant  that  Nilus  him- 
self has  given  different  accounts  of  the  his- 
tory of  these  documents — accounts  which 
differ  so  radically  that  they  cannot  be 
reconciled. 

Let  us  examine  these  various  accounts 
very  briefly.  In  the  introduction  to  the 
edition  of  1905  Nilus  tells  us  that  in  1 90 1 

22 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

he  came  into  possession  of  the  alleged  pro- 
tocols. He  says  that  at  the  close  of  a  series 
of  secret  meetings  of  influential  leaders  of 
this  conspiracy,  held  under  Masonic  aus- 
pices, a  woman  stole  from  "one  of  the  most 
influential  and  most  highly  initiated  leaders 
of  Freemasonry"  certain  docimients  which 
turned  out  to  be  disconnected  portions  of 
the  proces-verbaux  of  lectures  or  reports 
made  at  the  aforesaid  meetings  of  the 
Elders  of  Zion.  He  says  that  the  protocols 
were  "signed  by  representatives  of  Zion  of 
the  Thirty-third  Degree,"  but  he  does  not 
give  the  names  of  such  signatories.  This 
is  of  itself  a  suspicious  circumstance,  bat  a 
close  reading  of  the  text  reveals  that  it  is 
only  one  of  several  equally  suspicious  facts. 
Nilus  does  not  claim  to  have  seen  the  actual 
stolen  documents,  the  original  protocols. 
On  the  contrary,  he  tells  us  that  what  he 
received  in  190 1  was  a  document  which  he 
was  assured  was  an  accurate  translation  of 
the  stolen  documents.  His  own  words  are: 
"This  document  came  into  my  possession 
3  23 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

some  foiir  years  ago  (1901)  with  the  positive 
assurance  that  it  is  a  true  copy  in  trans- 
lation of  original  documents  stolen  by  a 
woman  from  one  of  the  most  influential  and 
the  most  highly  initiated  leaders  of  Free- 
masonry." Nilus  has  not  seen  the  original 
manuscript,  nor  has  any  other  known  per- 
son. We  have  only  the  word  of  Professor 
Nilus  that  somebody  gave  him  assurance 
that  certain  manuscripts  were  true  and  ac- 
curate translations  of  stolen  docimients  of 
great  international  importance.  So  far  as 
Nilus  himself  knew,  or  cared,  apparently, 
the  manuscript  given  to  him  might  well 
have  been  a  forgery. 

We  do  not  even  know  the  date  of  the 
alleged  secret  meetings  of  the  Elders  of 
Zion  at  which  the  lectures  or  reports,  or 
whatever  they  were,  recorded  in  these 
protocols  were  made  and,  presimiably,  con- 
sidered. We  do  not  know  the  name  of  the 
''most  influential  and  most  highly  initiated" 
leader  of  Freemasonry  from  whom  the  doc- 
imients were   said   to   have   been   stolen. 

24 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

Neither  do  we  know  the  name  of  the  thief. 
We  do  not  know  the  name  of  the  author 
of  the  alleged  protocols,  though  obviously  it 
would  make  all  the  difference  in  the  world 
whether  these  are  svimmaries  of  statements 
made  by  a  responsible  leader  of  the  Jewish 
people  or  the  wild  vaporings  of  such  a 
crank  as  infests  practically  every  conference 
and  convention.  We  do  not  know  who 
translated  the  alleged  protocols,  nor  in 
what  language  they  were  written.  More- 
over, not  one  word  of  assurance  does  Pro- 
fessor Nilus  give  on  his  own  accotmt  that 
he  knows  any  of  these  things.  He  does  not 
appear  to  have  made  any  investigation  of 
any  kind.  In  view  of  the  rest  of  his  work 
we  may  be  quite  sure  that  had  he  done  so 
he  would  have  told  us.  He  does  not  even 
tell  us,  in  thig^edition  of  1905,  that  the  per- 
son from  whom  he  acquired  the  "transla- 
tion" was  known  to  him  as  a  reliable  and 
trustworthy  person.  He  does  not  profess 
to  know  anything  more  than  I  have  already 
quoted  from  him.     No  one  knows  Nilus 

25 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

himself.     So  much  for  the  explanation  of 
1905. 

Before  I  pass  on  to  consider  a  later  and 
different  explanation  made  by  the  mysteri- 
ous Nilus,  a  few  brief  observations  upon  the 
story  now  before  us  may  not  be  out  of 
place,  especially  since  the  Dearborn  Inde- 
pendent has  accepted  it  and  made  it  the 
basis  of  its  propaganda.  How  is  it  possible 
for  any  person  possessing  anything  ap- 
proaching a  trained  mind,  and  especially  for 
one  accustomed  to  historical  study,  to  ac- 
cept as  authentic,  and  without  adequate 
corroboration,  documents  whose  origin  and 
history  are  so  clouded  with  secrecy,  mystery, 
and  ignorance?  And  how  can  men  and 
women  who  are  to  all  appearances  rational 
and  high-minded  bring  themselves  to  indict 
and  condemn  a  whole  race,  iitpoking  thereby 
the  perils  of  world-wide  racial  conflict,  upon 
the  basis  of  such  flimsy,  clouded,  and  tainted 
testimony?  No  decent  and  self-respecting 
judge  or  jury  anywhere  in  the  United 
States  would,  I  dare  believe,  convict  the 

26 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

humblest  individual  of  even  petty  crime 
upon  the  basis  of  such  testimony.  Serious 
charges  made  by  a  complainant  who  does 
not  appear  in  cotut  and  is  not  known  to  the 
court,  an  alleged  translation  of  an  alleged 
original,  not  produced  in  court,  alleged  to 
have  been  stolen  by  an  anonymous  thief 
not  produced  in  coiu*t,  from  an  alleged  con- 
spirator not  named  nor  produced  in  court, 
and  not  a  scintilla  of  corroborative  evidence, 
direct  or  circumstantial — ^was  ever  a  chain 
of  evidence  so  flimsy?  By  comparison,  the 
discovery  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  a  well- 
attested  event. 

Now  let  us  consider  another  very  different 
story  told  by  Nilus.  In  January,  191 7 — the 
date  is  important — another  edition  of  the 
book,  so  greatly  enlarged  and  rewritten  as 
to  be  almost  a  »ew  book,  appeared  in  Russia 
bearing  the  name  of  the  mysterious  and  un- 
known Nilus.  The  title  of  this  book  is  It 
Is  Near,  at  the  Door.  It  was  published  at 
Sergeiev,  near  Moscow,  at  the  Monastery 

of  Sergeiev.    I  have  said  that  the  date  of  the 

27 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

appearance  of  this  volmme  is  important,  and 
here  is  the  reason:  The  overthrow  of  tsar- 
ism  occurred  in  March,  191 7.  Toward  the 
end  of  19 1 6  the  revolutionary  ferment  was 
already  apparent.  What  else  could  be  ex- 
pected than  that  the  provocative  agents  of 
the  Tsar's  Secret  Police  and  the  Black  Htm- 
dreds  shotild  strive  to  divert  the  attention  of 
the  people  to  some  other  issue?  And  what 
more  natural  than  that  they  should  con- 
clude that  a  widespread  movement  against 
the  Jews,  great  pogroms  over  a  wide  area, 
would  best  smt  their  purpose?  The  first 
publication  of  the  alleged  protocols  took 
place  in  1905,  also  at  the  beginning  of  a 
popular  revolution,  and  it  did  have  the 
effect  of  creating  a  considerable  anti- Jewish 
agitation  which  weakened  the  revolutionary 
movement.  The  trail  of  the  Secret  PoHce 
and  the  Black  Himdreds  is  plain.  And  now 
for  the  new  version  of  the  history  of  the 
protocols.  On  page  96  of  this  new  book, 
which  is  a  violent  diatribe  against  the  Jews, 
Nilus  says: 

23 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

In  1901  I  came  into  possession  of  a  manuscript, 
and  this  comparatively  small  book  was  destined  to 
cause  such  a  deep  change  in  my  entire  viewpoint 
as  can  only  be  caused  in  the  heart  of  man  by  Divine 
Power.  It  was  comparable  with  the  miracle  of 
making  the  blind  see.  "May  Divine  acts  show  on 
him." 

This  manuscript  was  called,  "The  Protocols  of  the 
Zionist  Men  of  Wisdom,"  and  it  was  given  to  me 
by  the  now  deceased  leader  of  the  Tshemigov 
nobility,  who  later  became  Vice-Governor  of  Stavro- 
pol, Alexis  Nicholaievich  Sukhotin.  I  had  already 
begun  to  work  with  my  pen  for  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  and  I  was  friendly  with  Sukhotin  because  he 
was  a  man  of  my  opinion — i.e.,  extremely  conserva- 
tive, as  they  are  now  termed. 

Sukhotin  told  me  that  he  in  turn  had  obtained  the 
manuscript  from  a  lady  who  always  lived  abroad. 
This  lady  was  a  noblewoman  from  Tshemigov.  He 
mentioned  her  by  name,  but  I  have  forgotten  it. 
He  said  that  she  obtained  it  in  some  mysterious  way, 
by  theft,  I  believe.  Sukhotin  also  said  that  one 
copy  of  the  manuscript  was  given  by  this  lady  to 
Sipiagin,  then  Minister  of  the  Interior,  upon  her 
return  from  abroad,  and  that  Sipiagin  was  subse- 
quently killed.  He  said  other  things  of  the  same 
mysterious  character.  But  when  I  first  became 
acquainted  with  the  contents  of  the  manuscript 
I  was  convinced  that  its  terrible,  cruel,  and  straight- 
forward truth  is  witness  of  its  true  origin  from  the 
"Zionist  Men  of  Wisdom,"  and  that  no  other  evidence 
of  its  origin  would  be  needed. 

29 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Is  it  necessary,  I  wonder,  to  waste  words 
in  exposing  this  pious  fraud?  His  own  state- 
ment comes  pretty  close  to  convicting  him 
of  being,  as  I  have  suggested  above,  a  hire- 
ling of  the  Secret  Police,  an  agent  provoca- 
teur. Sukhotin,  from  whom  he  now  claims 
to  have  received  the  manuscript,  was  a 
notorious  anti-Semite  and  a  despot  of  the 
worst  type.  Sipiagin,  to  whom,  it  is  alleged, 
the  manuscript  had  been  previously  given, 
was  also  a  bitter  anti-Semite  and  one  of  the 
most  infamous  of  Russian  bureaucrats.  He 
was  notoriously  corrupt  and  unspeakably 
cruel  while  he  was  Minister  of  the  Interior. 
He  was  assassinated  by  Stephen  Balmashev, 
in  March,  1902.  Even  if  we  credit  this  re- 
vised version  of  the  way  in  which  he  came 
into  possession  of  the  manuscript,  Nilus  is 
closely  identified  with  the  secret  agencies  of 
the  old  regime.  Let  us  take  note,  however, 
of  other  peculiarities  of  the  canting  hypo- 
crite, Nilus.  He  names  Sukhotin  and  Sipi- 
agin only  after  they  are  dead  and  denial  by 
them  is  impossible;  he  has  "forgotten"  the 

30 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE   PROTOCOLS 

name  of  the  "noblewoman  from  Tshemi- 
gov,"  the  person  alleged  to  have  stolen  the 
original  documents;  he  suggests  that  the 
documents  need  no  other  evidence  than  their 
own  contents.  Truly,  a  very  typical  crim- 
inal is  the  mysterious,  elusive,  unknown 
"Prof.  Sergei  Nilus"! 

Now  let  me  call  attention  to  two  other 
very  interesting  facts  in  connection  with 
this  story  of  191 7.  The  first  is  that  Nilus 
omits  the  very  important  statement  made  in 
the  edition  of  1905  that  the  alleged  proto- 
cols were  "signed  by  representatives  of  Zion 
of  the  Thirty-third  Degree,"  without  offer- 
ing the  sUghtest  explanation  of  that  most 
important  omission.  The  second  fact  is  even 
more  conclusive  as  evidence  of  the  man's 
absolute  untrustworthiness.  Having  told  us 
in  the  edition  of  1905  that  the  friend  who 
gave  him  the  protocols  asstu^ed  him  that 
they  had  been  "stolen  by  a  woman,"  and  in 
191 7  that  it  was  Nicholaievich  Sukhotin  from 
whom  he  received  the  documents,  who  not 
only  told  him  that  they  had  been  stolen 

31 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

by  a  woman,  but  told  him  also  the  name  of 
the  thief  (which  he  has  forgotten,  unfortu- 
nately), he  proceeds,  in  the  Epilogue  of  the 
191 7  edition,  to  tell  a  very  different  story. 
He  says  in  this  Epilogue  that  the  protocols 
"were  stealthily  removed  from  a  large  book 
of  notes  on  lecttires.  My  friend  found  them 
in  the  safe  of  the  headquarters  offices  of  the 
Society  of  Zion,  which  is  situated  at  present 
in  Paris.'* 

Was  ever  perjiirer  more  confused?  First 
we  have  an  unknown  woman  stealing  the 
documents  from  "one  of  the  most  highly 
initiated  leaders  of  Freemasonry" ;  next,  we 
have  a  "noblewoman  of  Tshemigov"  as  the 
thief  and  Sukhotin  as  the  intermediary 
through  whose  hands  they  reached  his  friend 
Nilus.  Now,  finally,  Nilus  says  that  his 
friend — i.e.,  Sukhotin — was  the  thief,  and 
not  a  woman  at  all !  Instead  of  being  stolen 
from  the  person  of  "one  of  the  most  highly 
initiated  leaders  of  Freemasonry,"  they  are 
"found"  in  a  safe  in  Paris!  The  woman 
has  disappeared;  the  highly  initiated  Free- 

32 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

mason  has  disappeared.  Now  it  is  Sukhotin 
who  is  identified  as  the  thief,  and  he  is 
pointed  out  as  having  robbed  a  safe  in  Paris. 
So  much  for  the  perjury  of  Nilus.  I  may 
add  that  I  am  assured — though  I  cannot 
vouch  for  the  statement — that  Sukhotin 
was  not  outside  of  Russia  between^  1890 
and  1905. 

But  it  may  be  argued,  as  it  has  been 
argued  in  the  Dearborn  Independent  —  fol- 
lowing the  suggestion  of  Nilus — that  the 
authenticity  of  the  protocols,  and  the  reality 
and  seriousness  of  the  Jewish  conspiracy, 
are  sufficiently  demonstrated  by  internal 
evidence.  I  confess  that  I  do  not  find  in  the 
documents  any  reason  for  reaching  such  a 
conclusion,  though  I  have  studied  them 
with  all  the  patience  and  care  I  could  com- 
mand, and  have  read  the  principal  argu- 
ments made  in  their  defense.  I  find  not  a 
scrap  of  evidence  to  show  that  there  exists, 
or  ever  has  existed,  such  a  body  of  men  as 
"The  Elders  of  Zion,"  or  "The  Men  of 
Wisdom  of  Zion,"  or  any  similar  secret  body 

2>2> 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

©f  Jews.  That  such  a  secret  conspiratory  body 
exists  has  been  charged  from  time  to  time  during 
more  than  a  century ,  yet  not  a  particle  of 
emdence  to  sustain  the  clmrge  has  ever  been 
produced.  I  am  quite  well  aware  of  the 
capacity  of  the  human  mind  to  believe  what- 
ever accords  with  preconceived  prejudices, 
suspicions,  or  impressions,  even  in  the  face 
of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  and,  corre- 
spondingly, to  reject  the  most  conclusive 
evidence  when  it  runs  counter  to  such 
prejudices,  suspicions,  or  impressions.  Lay- 
ing upon  my  own  mind  the  warning  implied 
by  this  knowledge,  and  guarding  myself 
against  the  danger  of  rejecting,  or  ignoring, 
or  undervaluing  unpleasant  and  imwelcome 
facts,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  those  who  find 
in  these  alleged  protocols  a  sufficient  basis 
for  bringing  the  Jewish  race  under  indict- 
ment seem  to  me  to  have  brought  precon- 
ceived suspicion  and  fear  of  the  Jew  to  their 
study  of  the  documents  themselves.  Per- 
sonally, I  can  find  nothing  in  them  which 
suggests  any  highly  organized  intelligence, 

34 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

such  as  the  leaders  of  the  Jewish  race  repre- 
sent and  command  in  abundance;  rather, 
they  seem  to  me  to  clearly  indicate  the  dis- 
ordered mind  and  distorted  vision  of  a  very 
common  type  of  monomaniac,  the  genus 
"crank." 

I  believe  that  historical  study  is  not  one 
of  Mr.  Ford's  strong  points,  but,  even  so, 
he  must  be  aware  of  the  fact  that  it  is  one 
of  the  commonest  things  in  history  to  en- 
counter charges  of  conspiracy  directed 
against  religious  and  political  sects,  sup- 
ported by  more  or  less  plausible  arguments 
and  believed  by  considerable  numbers  of 
people.  Were  it  necessary  to  my  purpose, 
and  did  time  permit,  I  could  quite  easily  fill 
a  considerable  volume  with  illustrations  of 
this  fact.  For  example,  there  exists  a  great 
literature  devoted  to  the  object  of  proving 
that  the  Vatican  is  the  headquarters  of  such 
a  conspiracy  to  bring  about  or  to  attain 
world  domination.  Thousands  of  books 
and  pamphlets  have  been  written  to  convict 
the  Jesuits  of  such  a  conspiracy,  many  of 

35 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

them  far  more  convincing  than  these  proto- 
cols. Pamphlets  aiming  to  convince  the 
American  people  that  the  Knights  of  Colum- 
bus is  an  organization  aiming  at  the  over- 
throw of  the  American  Republic  and  the 
estabHshment  of  the  temporal  sovereignty 
of  the  Pope  over  the  United  States  have 
been  circulated  by  the  milHon.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  court  record  that  this  charge  has  been 
supported  by  the  publication  of  what  pur- 
ported to  be  exact  copies  of  oaths  pledging 
the  members  of  that  organization  to  the 
end  stated.  Let  me  say  at  once  that  I  do 
not  credit  these  sensational  stories  and 
charges.  I  have  confined  myself  to  charges 
made  against  one  of  the  two  great  sections 
of  Christianity  for  reasons  which  seem  to  me 
peculiarly  cogent.  The  charges  made  against 
the  Jews  have  produced  the  most  terrible 
results  in  the  countries  where  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  strongest,  and  no  leader 
of  the  Christian  religion  has  such  strong  rea- 
son for  denoimcing  such  appeals  to  prejudice 
and  hatred  as  the  head  of  that  Church. 

36 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

Belief  in  widespread  conspiracies  directed 
against  individuals  or  the  state  is  prob- 
ably the  commonest  form  assumed  by  the 
human  mind  when  it  loses  its  balance  and 
its  sense  of  proportion.  I  venture  to 
hazard  the  opinion  that  of  all  the  cranks 
who  have  pestered  Mr.  Ford  since  he  has 
attained  a  conspicuous  position,  those  who 
imagined  themselves  to  be  the  victims 
of  conspiracies  have  outnumbered  all  the 
others.  These  protocols  are  either  pre- 
posterous forgeries  deliberately  wrought  for 
the  purpose  of  fostering  anti-Semitism  in 
Russia,  or  they  are  the  pitiable  ravings  of 
a  familiar  type  of  monomaniac. 

Concerning  the  authorship  of  the  proto- 
cols, there  has  been  much  conjecture,  espe- 
cially on  the  part  of  those  who  have  seriously 
regarded  them  as  an  authentic  expression  of 
Jewish  opinion.  It  has  been  whispered  in 
those  places  where  the  so-called  Jewish  ques- 
tion is  discussed,  that  they  are  the  work  of 
the  well-known  Zionist  leader.  Dr.  Theodor 
Herzl.   This  is  the  theory  which  Nilus  him- 

37 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

self  advances  m  the  introduction  to  the 
edition  of  191 7.    He  says: 

.  .  .  my  book  has  already  reached  the  fourth 
edition,  but  it  is  only  definitely  known  to  me  now 
and  in  a  manner  worthy  of  belief,  and  that  through 
Jewish  sources,  that  these  protocols  are  nothing 
other  than  the  strategic  plans  for  the  conquest  of  the 
world  under  the  heel  of  Israel,  and  worked  out  by 
the  leaders  of  the  Jewish  people  .  .  .  and  read  to 
the  Councils  of  Elders  by  the  "Prince  of  Exile," 
Theodor  Herzl,  during  the  first  Zionist  Congress, 
summoned  by  him  in  August,  1897,  in  Basle. 

This  is  the  first  time  Nilus  has  so  much  as 
hinted  at  the  date  of  the  alleged  secret  con- 
clave of  the  Elders  of  Zion,  at  the  close  of 
which,  according  to  the  story  of  1905  so 
elaborately  contradicted  in  191 7,  the  proto- 
cols were  stolen  by  a  woman.  It  is  perhaps  as 
well  to  remark  in  passing  that  the  first 
Zionist  Congress  was  held  in  the  open  and 
its  proceedings  freely  reported  in  the  press. 
Now,  Herzl  stands  among  the  foremost  of 
the  intellectual  Jews  of  modem  times.  All 
his  known  work  is  characterized  by  clear, 
clean-cut  reasoning  and  direct  and  forceful 

38 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

statement.  All  his  known  writings  are  char- 
acterized by  these  qualities.  Whatever  we 
may  think  about  Zionism,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  great  Austrian  journalist 
and  critic  never  lacked  the  courage  of  his 
convictions,  as  may  be  seen  by  anybody  who 
will  take  the  trouble  to  read  his  writings 
or  the  evidence  delivered  by  him  before  the 
British  Royal  Commission  on  Alien  Immi- 
gration, in  1902.  If  Herzl  wrote  these  docu- 
ments he  adopted  the  disguise  of  the  style 
and  method  of  a  much  inferior  mentality. 

Unless  we  are  to  believe  that  he  deliber- 
ately adopted  a  style  of  writing  and  method 
of  reasoning  entirely  imfamiliar  and  im- 
like  his  publicly  acknowledged  work,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  hiding  his  authorship 
of  the  protocols — ^which,  if  we  credit  the 
story  that  they  were  presented  to  a  secret 
conference  of  the  leaders  of  the  alleged  con- 
spiracy, is  an  impossible  hypothesis — we  are 
warranted  in  saying  that,  whoever  wrote 
them,  it  was  not  Theodor  Herzl.  It  would 
be  as  reasonable  to  ascribe  a  Walt  Whitman 

4  39 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

chant  to  Emerson,  or  a  Bernard  Shaw  satire 
to  Jonathan  Edwards,  as  to  ascribe  these 
crude,  meandering  pages  to  the  crystalline 
intellect  of  Theodor  Herzl.  I  do  not  find  in 
them  any  suggestion  of  the  trained  mind  of 
a  scholar  and  writer  of  Herzl's  attainments ; 
rather,  they  seem  to  me  to  belong  in  about 
the  same  intellectual  category  as  the  ordi- 
nary propaganda  literattire  of  the  nimierous 
sects,  ancient  and  modern,  based  upon 
peculiar  interpretations  of  Biblical  prophe- 
cies. Since  the  outbreak  of  the  World  War 
in  1914,  and  throughout  the  whole  chapter 
of  revolutionary  events  following  thereupon, 
there  has  been  a  steady  flood  of  such  lit- 
erature. Even  the  much- discussed  forecast 
of  Bolshevism  does  not  in  any  material  re- 
spect differ  from  many  similar  "prophecies" 
that  have  appeared  in  recent  years. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Bolshevism  actu- 
ally conforms  in  a  notable  degree  to  the 
specifications  contained  in  the  protocols, 
which  I  have  already  summarized  in  the 
preceding  chapter.  Shall  we,  then,  conclude 
40 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

that  the  charge  is  proven  and  declare  the 
case  closed,  or  is  it  necessary  to  examine  the 
evidence  further  and  more  critically?  I 
think  that  a  very  brief  period  of  honest 
reflection  will  convince  any  fair-minded  and 
intelligent  person  of  the  injustice  of  the  ren- 
dering of  a  verdict  holding  the  Jews  respon- 
sible for  Bolshevism  upon  the  basis  of  such 
evidence.  Let  me  direct  the  attention  of  my 
readers  to  a  coincidence  of  dates  which  once 
more  directs  suspicion  against  Prof.  Sergei 
Nilus  and  against  the  alleged  stolen  proto- 
cols. I  have  already  pointed  out  that  in 
1903,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  book,  Nilus 
did  not  use  the  alleged  protocols,  though  he 
claims  that  they  had  been  in  his  possession 
for  two  years  prior  to  that  time.  That  this 
is  a  suspicious  circumstance  will,  I  think,  be 
readily  conceded  by  the  open-minded.  In 
1903  the  Russian  Social  Democratic  party 
was  split  into  two  factions,  and  the  word 
"Bolshevism"  came  into  use  as  the  designa- 
tion of  the  policy  of  one  of  these  factions. 
In  1905  the  first  Russian  revolution  took 
41 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

place.  In  the  period  between  the  split  in 
the  Social  Democratic  party  in  1903  and  the 
outbreak  of  the  revolution  in  1905  the 
leaders  of  the  Bolsheviki  had  been  active  in 
formulating  and  propagating  their  theoret- 
ical and  political  views.  During  the  revolu- 
tion a  sharp  conflict  occurred  between  the 
Bolsheviki  and  other  factions  of  the  Russian 
Socialist  movement,  and  the  Socialist  press 
gave  much  space  to  the  controversy. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  brief  historical 
sketch  that  when  Nilus  published  a  second 
edition  of  his  book,  late  in  1905,  he  could 
find  in  the  Russian  Socialist  press  all  the 
materials  for  such  a  general  description  of 
Bolshevism  as  that  contained  in  the  proto- 
cols. Of  course,  if  we  believe  that  the  docu- 
ments are  genuine,  that  they  are  authentic 
translations  of  documents  actually  stolen  in 
1896,  delivered  to  Nilus  in  1901,  and  by  him 
first  made  public  in  1905,  we  have  simply  a 
coincidence  of  dates.  I  submit,  however, 
that  there  is  not  a  shred  of  credible  evidence 
that  the  documents  were  so  obtained  by 

42 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

Nilus,  or  that  they  existed  in  1896,  1901, 
1903,  or  at  any  date  earlier  than  1905,  the 
year  of  their  first  publication.  I  submit, 
fiirthermore,  that  it  is  highly  probable  that 
the  passages  in  the  alleged  protocols  which 
are  now  hailed  as  conclusive  evidence  that 
the  Bolshevist  policy  had  been  formulated 
as  early  as  1896,  were  in  reality  written  after 
1903  and  in  the  light  of  already  pubUshed 
acccxmts  of  Bolshevist  theories  and  tactics. 
There  is  not  a  thing  that  we  know  about 
these  docimients  and  their  history  which 
does  not  point  directly  to  the  conclusion 
that  they  are  forgeries. 

When  I  was  in  Lx)ndon  in  October,  1920, 
an  English  journalist  of  distinction,  well 
known  and  influential  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  with  great  earnestness  and  evident 
conviction  sought  to  impress  me  with  the 
serious  importance  of  these  alleged  Protocols 
0}  the  Elders  of  Zion.  He  was  quite  convinced 
that  the  docximents  were  genuine,  and  that 
they  proved  beyond  reasonable  doubt  the 
existence  of  a  world-wide  Jewish  conspiracy. 

43 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

With  great  solemnity  and  manifest  sincerity 
he  sought  to  enlist  my  co-operation  in  de- 
fense of  what  he  called  "Anglo-Saxon  civili- 
zation," which  he  seemed  to  regard  as  syn- 
onymous with  Christian  civilization.  He 
was  quite  astonished  when  I  directed  his 
attention  to  the  fact  that  a  well-known 
French  writer,  Louis  Martin,  had  published, 
as  far  back  as  1895,  a  book  in  which  he 
attempted  to  prove  the  existence  of  such  a 
world-wide  Jewish  conspiracy.  My  friend 
honestly  believed  that  the  existence  of  this 
conspiracy  had  never  been  known  or  sus- 
pected prior  to  the  publication  of  the  work 
of  the  mysterious  Sergei  Nilus.  He  was  still 
more  surprised  when  I  told  him  that  in  his 
book,  V Anglais  Est-Il  un  Juif?,  Martin 
had  attempted  to  prove  that  the  English 
people  are  part  of  the  Jewish  race,  and  that 
the  British  government  is  the  principal 
directing  power  of  the  conspiracy;  so  that 
the  world-wide  Jewish  conspiracy  must, 
according  to  Martin,  be  understood  as  a 
secret  compact  between  the  British  govern- 

44 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PROTOCOLS 

ment,  as  a  Jewish  organization,  and  the 
leaders  of  Jewry  in  all  other  lands.  Thus  is 
the  theory  of  a  world-wide  Jewish  conspiracy 
reduced  to  absurdity.  I  confess  that  at  that 
time  I  was  not  aware  that  in  the  original 
Russian  of  the  1905  edition  of  the  work  of 
Nilus  this  absurd  theory  of  Martin  had  been 
reproduced,  but  carefully  omitted  from  ev- 
ery English  translation  pubHshed  in  this 
country  and  in  England.  The  reason  for  the 
©mission  is  obvious;  had  the  passage  been 
given  it  would  have  made  a  laughing-stock 
of  the  protocols.  I  submit,  however,  that 
the  omission  of  such  an  important  passage 
from  the  text  of  Nilus  without  any  reference 
to  or  explanation  of  the  liberty  taken  with 
the  text,  places  those  responsible  for  the 
several  translations  in  a  very  unfavorable 
Hght. 

In  closing  this  chapter  it  is  perhaps  well 
that  some  record  should  be  made  of  the 
sinister  use  which  was  made  of  these  alleged 
protocols  during  the  World  War.  Not  long 
after  the  United  States  had  begim  active 

45 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

participation  in  the  war  against  Germany, 
it  came  to  my  attention  that  typewritten 
manuscripts  purporting  to  prove  that  the 
war  was  part  of  a  great  conspiracy  of  inter- 
national Jews  were  being  circulated.  On  at 
least  three  different  occasions,  early  in  1918, 
I  was  asked  about  this  charge.  I  was  told 
then  that  the  British  and  American  govern- 
ments were  in  a  special  sense  the  agents  of 
this  Jewish  conspiracy.  In  July,  191 8,  in 
Paris,  a  fuller  account  of  the  documents  was 
given  to  me  by  a  loyal  Socialist,  to  whom 
they  had  been  shown.  There  was  not  then, 
as  there  is  not  now,  the  slightest  doubt  in 
my  mind  that  the  pro-German  propagan- 
dists resorted  to  this  trick  in  order  to  weaken 
the  morale  of  the  principal  Allied  nations. 


IV 

IS   SOCIALISM   A  JEWISH   CONSPIRACY? 

UPON  the  strength  of  statements  made 
in  this  collection  of  documents  of 
mysterious  and  suspicious  origin,  a  number 
of  papers,  including  the  Dearborn  I?tde-  V 
pendent  and  the  London  Morning  Post,  have 
attempted  to  account  for  and  explain  the 
international  Socialist  movement  as  part  of 
this  Jewish  imperialistic  conspiracy.  Neither  '^ 
in  the  protocols  themselves  nor  in  the  news- 
papers making  this  particular  charge  has 
any  shred  of  authentic  evidence  been  ad- 
duced in  its  support.  True,  a  great  deal  has 
been  made  of  the  undeniable  fact  that  Karl 
Marx,  Ferdinand  Lassalle,  Wilhelm  Lieb- 
necht,  and  other  noted  Socialists  belonged 
to  the  Jewish  race.  Against  this  fact  might 
very  well  be  set  the  equally  undeniable  fact 

47 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

that  the  foremost  opponents  of  these  men, 
and  of  Socialism,  were  also  of  the  Jewish 
race.  Apparently,  therefore,  we  are  to  be- 
Keve  that  the  leaders  of  this  Jewish  con- 
spiracy set  up  the  SociaHst  movement  and 
fostered  it,  while  at  the  same  time  they 
enHsted  their  ablest  minds  to  defeat  it. 
Stirely  for  the  normal  mind  that  is  not 
obsessed  this  is  a  theory  too  absurd  for 
belief. 

Only  those  who  are  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  history  of  Socialism  and  Socialist  theo- 
ries can  possibly  hold  this  view  of  its  Jew- 
ish origin.  Long  before  Karl  Marx  appeared 
upon  the  scene  of  action  Socialism  had 
already  made  an  impress  upon  European 
thought.  Marx  was  a  boy  of  fifteen  when 
the  word  Socialism  first  appeared  in  print 
as  designating  the  doctrines  preached  by 
Robert  Owen,  the  Welshman,  for  almost 
twenty  years  before  that  time.  Was  Owen 
the  tool  of  Jewish  conspirators?  I  have  read 
most  of  the  literature  relating  to  Owen's  life 
and  teaching,  including  his  own  voluminous 

48 


IS  SOCIALISM  A  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY? 

writings,  and  the  innumerable  controversies 
in  which  he  was  engaged  throughout  his  life. 
I  have  not  discovered  in  all  this  mass  of 
material  a  single  trace  of  Jewish  influence. 
He  had  no  Jewish  friends  or  associates  dur- 
ing the  formative  years,  the  period  in  which 
the  Socialist  ideas  and  ideals  shaped  them- 
selves. His  Socialism  was  the  direct  out- 
come of  his  experience  as  a  successful  manu- 
facturer. He  was  not  in  any  sense  a  man  of 
books.  From  time  to  time  he  required  large 
sums  of  money  for  his  enterprises.  Surely,  if 
those  enterprises,  and  his  life's  work  as  a 
whole,  formed  part  of  a  great  Jewish  con- 
spiracy which  had  behind  it  the  vast  finan- 
cial resources  of  Jewry,  it  would  not  have 
been  difficult  for  him  to  secure  the  financial 
support  he  needed.  It  is  a  fact  of  cardinal 
importance,  therefore,  that  Owen  never  did 
receive  Jewish  financial  support.  Those  who 
wotdd  have  us  believe  that  Socialism  orig- 
inated as  a  part  of  the  great  world-wide 
conspiracy  of  Jewish  imperialism  must  first 
of  all  explain  Robert  Owen. 

49 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Nor  does  Owen  stand  alone  in  the  history 
of  Socialism  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact,  one  to  which  he 
himself  has  called  attention,  that  the  most 
important  of  the  economic  and  sociological 
theories  of  Marx  were  held  and  promtdgated 
before  his  time  by  a  number  of  British  writ- 
ers. As  Professor  Foxwell  and  others  have 
shown,  the  roots  of  what  is  called  Marxian 
Socialist  theory  lie  deep  in  the  soil  of  British 
political  economy.  (Karl  Marx  devoted  his 
typically  Jewish  genius  to  the  exposition  of 
Socialist  theories,  but  the  theories  them- 
selves were  not  of  Hebraic  origin.  William 
Godwin,  Charles  Hall,  William  Thompson, 
John  Gray,  and  John  Francis  Bray  all  pre- 
ceded Marx,  and  not  one  of  them  was  a 
Jew,  nor  can  we  find  in  their  writings  any 
trace  of  Jewish  influence.j  It  is  the  same 
with  Bronterre  O'Brien,  the  first  to  call 
himself  a  Social  Democrat.  If  any  or  all  of 
these  men  were  the  agents  of  such  a  con- 
spiracy, it  is  remarkable  that  there  should 
be  an  entire  absence  of  evidence  of  that  fact. 

50 


IS  SOCIALISM  A  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY? 

It  is  quite  unbelievable  that  there  was  any 
sort  of  conspiracy  which  affected  them.  For 
the  most  part  they  were  poor  and  their 
books  were  published  in  pitifully  small  edi- 
tions at  great  sacrifice  to  themselves.  (Inci- 
dentally, it  is  worthy  of  note,  Karl  Marx, 
the  Jew,  suffered  terrible  poverty.  Certainly, 
all  this  does  not  suggest  an  international 
conspiracy  backed  by  the  Jewish  leaders  of 
the  financial  world./ 

Because  of  the  prominence  of  a  few  indi- 
vidual Jews  in  the  American  Socialist  move- 
ment in  recent  years,  the  writer  of  the 
anti-Semitic  articles  in  the  Dearborn  Inde- 
pendent regards  as  proven  the  theory  that 
American  Socialism  originated  in  Jewish 
conspiracy.  It  is  another  evidence  of  his 
entire  ignorance  of  the  subject  concerning 
which  he  writes.  If  there  is  anything  which 
can  be  said  about  Socialism  with  certainty, 
it  is  that  its  fundamental  theories  are  mainly 
of  Anglo-Saxon  origin.  Karl  Marx  was  a  boy 
of  nine  years  when  Robert  Owen  reprinted  in 
England  an  American  Socialist  pamphlet, 

51 


y 

o,-^^- 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

written  by  an  American  workingman  and 
published  in  America  a  year  or  two  eariier. 
At  about  the  same  time  Thomas  Cooper,  of 
Columbia,  South  Carolina,  published  his 
book  in  which  the  fimdamental  economic 
theories  of  modem  Socialism  were  clearly  ex- 
pounded. When  Marx  was  no  more  than 
ten  years  old  we  find  O.  A.  Brownson,  editor 
of  the  Boston  Quarterly  Review,  vigorously 
preaching  here  in  America  the  theory  of  the 
class  war,  the  abolition  of  the  wage  system, 
and  the  necessity  for  a  triumph  of  the  prole- 
tariat. We  find  such  men  as  Thomas  Skid- 
more,  R.  L.  Jennings,  and  L.  Byllesby 
preaching  thoroughgoing  Socialism.  In  1829 
these  men  and  others  were  exercising  a  not- 
able and  considerable  influence  upon  Ameri- 
can thought.  In  vain  shall  we  search  their 
writings  and  the  meager  accounts  of  their 
lives  for  any  trace  or  suggestion  of  Jewish 
influence  or  control. 

I  skip  a  decade  and  turn  to  the  Fourierist 
period  of  American  Socialism.  The  profound 
influence    of    Charles    Fourier   upon    Karl 

52 


IS  SOCIALISM  A  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY? 

Marx  is  well  known  and  has  been  the  sub- 
ject of  much  learned  writing.  But  if  the 
Frenchman  inspired  the  German  Jew,  so 
likewise  did  he  inspire  many  American  non- 
Jews,  the  very  flower  of  our  race.  It  was 
Albert  Brisbane  who  began  the  Fourierist 
agitation  here,  and  soon  he  had  associated 
with  him  Horace  Greeley,  Parke  Godwin, 
George  Ripley,  Charles  A.  Dana,  John  S. 
Dwight,  WilHam  Henry  Channing,  Mar- 
garet Fuller,  John  Orvis,  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Higginson,  Edmund  Clarence  Sted- 
man,  and  many  others.  Other  distinguished 
Americans  who  were  brought  into  more  or 
less  sympathetic  association  with  the  move- 
ment included  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson,  James  Russell  Lowell,  and 
Theodore  Parker,  among  others.  Certainly 
it  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  body  of  men 
and  women  more  truly  representative  of  the 
highest  and  best  of  American  life  and  genius. 
To  suggest  that  these  were  all  the  agents  of 
a  Jewish  conspiracy,  either  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  is  to  invite  and  deserve  ridi- 

53 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

ctile.  In  truth,  Socialism  is  as  Anglo-Saxon 
as  Magna  Charta  and  as  American  as  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  we  might 
as  well  attribute  either  or  both  of  these  to 
Jewish  intrigue  as  Socialism.  It  is  true  that 
the  organized  Socialist  movement  in  Amer- 
ica has  long  spoken  with  a  foreign  accent 
and  borne  the  imprint  of  an  alien  psychol- 
ogy, but  that  psychology,  as  I  have  else- 
where pointed  out,  is  German  and  not 
Hebraic. 

It  would  take  us  too  far  afield  to  discuss 
the  origin  of  French  SociaUsm,  even  in  this 
sketchy  fashion,  but  I  can  state  with  the 
assurance  that  is  born  of  intimate  knowledge 
that  French  Socialism  shows  as  little  sign  of 
having  been  inspired  by  ahen  influences, 
Jewish  or  other,  as  British  and  American 
Socialism.  I  stress  this  point  not  because  I 
would  defend  the  Jews  against  the  charge 
that  they  have  manifested  unusual  sympa- 
thy for  Socialism  (which,  indeed,  if  true,  I 
should  hold  to  be  a  virtuous  distinction), 
nor  to  apologize  for  or  to  deny  the  splendid 

54 


IS  SOCIALISM  A  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY? 

contributions  of  individual  Jews  to  the  So- 
cialist movement.  My  concern  is  to  enter 
protest  against  the  charge  that  the  Socialist 
movement  of  the  world  originated  in  the 
ambitions  of  Jewish  imperiaHsts  and  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  part  and  parcel 
of  a  great  international  Jewish  conspiracy. 
That  is  a  stupid  travesty  of  history,  and  a 
dangerous  one. 

I  have  spent  the  greater  part  of  my  life 
in  the  Socialist  movement,  in  close  and 
intimate  comradeship  with  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles  belonging  to  nearly  every  civilized 
nation.  I  am  as  proud  of  the  comradeship 
of  my  Jewish  comrades  as  I  am  of  that  of 
any  others.  My  readers  will  perhaps  un- 
derstand that  I  deeply  resent  the  implica- 
tion that  through  all  the  years  of  struggle 
and  sacrifice  I  have  been  either  the  imcon- 
scious  dupe  or  the  willing  agent  of  any 
kind  of  selfish  conspiracy,  Jewish  or  other. 
It  is,  of  course,  difficult  to  disprove  such  an 
accusation  brought  against  a  great  move- 
ment, and,  therefore,  by  implication  against 
5  55 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

the  individuals  belonging  to  that  move- 
ment. If  I  should  charge  that  Mr.  Henry 
Ford  is  engaged  in  this  anti-Semitic  propa- 
ganda for  purely  selfish  and  mercenary 
reasons,  that  he  has  become  the  spokesman 
and  agent  of  great  imscrupulous  capitalist 
interests  who  seek  to  destroy  their  Jewish 
competitors  and  to  profit  thereby,  he  would 
find  it  diffictilt  to  establish  the  contrary  by 
definite  and  concrete  proof.  As  a  matter  of 
justice,  nothing  of  the  sort  should  be  ex- 
pected. The  burden  of  proof  rests  upon  the 
person  making  the  accusation.  "^In  like 
fashion,  when  the  Dearborn  Independent 
charges  that  the  international  Socialist 
movement  is  one  of  the  agents  of  a  vicious 
Jewish  conspiracy  against  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, it  is  in  honor  bound  to  submit  proofs. 
This  it  has  not  done,  nor  has  any  other 
paper  making  the  charge.*^  I  know  that  the 
charge  is  a  cruel  and  cowardly  falsehood,  a 
libel  upon  millions  of  honest  and  honorable 
men  and  women,  to  utter  which  is  an  in- 
famy and  degradation. 

S6 


IS  SOCIALISM  A  JEWISH  CONSPIRACY? 

The  charge  is  one  that  has  been  leveled 
against  practically  every  movement  of  pro- 
test that  has  been  developed  in  modem 
times.  It  was  leveled  against  the  Protestant 
Reformation;  against  the  French  Revolu- 
tion; against  Mazzini  and  his  followers  in 
Italy;  against  the  German  Revolutionists 
of  1848;  against  British  Trade-Unionists. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  a  little  research  would 
reveal  the  fact  that  the  same  charge  was 
directed  against  the  Abolitionists  in  this 
coimtry.  Vicious  interests  are  never  very 
scrupulous  in  their  choice  of  weapons.  In 
those  Protestant  cotmtries  in  which  the 
nimiber  of  Catholics  is  much  larger  than  the 
nimiber  of  Jews  it  is  a  common  practice  to 
charge  that  movements  of  protest  and  re- 
volt are  instigated  and  led  by  the  Catholic 
hierarchy.  Where  the  number  of  Jews 
is  very  great  the  appeal  is  made  to  racial 
hatred.  In  Catholic  coimtries,  in  the  same 
way,  accusation  is  directed  against  Prot- 
estantism or  Judaism,  according  to  cir- 
cumstance. 

57 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN   IDEALS 

Wherever  and  by  whosoever  made,  ap- 
peals to  racial  and  religious  prejudices  and 
hatreds  in  defense  of  vested  interests  merit 
the  condemnation  of  all  honest  and  righteous 
men.  When  made  in  a  country  which,  like 
the  United  States,  possesses  millions  of 
peoples  of  many  diverse  lands  and  races 
not  yet  welded  into  national  homogeneity, 
who  must  live  and  work  together,  such  ac- 
cusations become  the  most  dangerous  form 
of  treason.  Whoever  propagates  in  this 
coimtry  antagonism  to  any  race  or  creed 
represented  in  our  citizenship,  whether  it  be 
against  Jews,  Poles,  Germans,  Irish,  Eng- 
lish, or  negroes;  or  against  Judaism,  Ca- 
tholicism, or  Protestantism,  assails  the  very 
foundation  of  our  most  cherished  and  char- 
acteristic American  institutions. 


THE    JEWISH    SOCIALISTS    AND    BOLSHEVISM 

THE  anti-Semitic  press  of  both  hemi- 
spheres charges  that  Bolshevism  in 
Russia  and  elsewhere  is  a  movement  insti- 
gated and  led  by  Jews,  as  part  of  a  great 
conspiracy  to  bring  about  the  Jewish  domi-  ^ 
nation  of  the  world.  The  reasons  for  making 
this  charge  are  only  too  obvious.  Bolshe- 
vism is  repugnant  to  the  great  mass  of 
civilized  mankind,  by  whom  it  is  rightly 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  moral  leprosy.  What- 
ever may  be  thought  of  the  possibility  of 
Sovietism  in  industry  and  government,  Bol- 
shevism, the  spiritual  dynamic  as  distin- 
gmshed  from  the  mechanical  agent,  is  the 
negation  of  every  virtuous  principle  which 
mankind  holds  in  reverence.  It  frankly 
bases  government  upon  brute  force  wielded 

59 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

by  the  few,  and  denies  the  ideal  toward  which 
all  nations  are  striving,  the  ideal  of  govern- 
ment based  upon  the  sanction  of  the  gov- 
erned. It  unites  in  a  terrible  synthesis  all 
the  worst  agencies  and  methods  of  tsarism 
and  of  militarism.  To  persuade  the  people  of 
this  or  any  other  civilized  country  that 
Bolshevism  is  essentially  a  Jewish  move- 
ment, part  of  a  conspiracy  to  reduce  civili- 
zation to  chaos,  and  so  prepare  the  way  for  a 
Jewish  supergovernment  of  the  world,  would 
mean  the  rapid  organization  of  the  rest  of 
the  population  against  the  Jews  in  every 
phase  of  life — politics,  commerce,  industry, 
education,  social  intercourse,  and  so  on. 

In  support  of  this  most  serious  charge 
not  a  single  shred  of  credible  evidence  has 
ever  been  adduced  by  any  anti-Semitic 
writer  or  organ.  For  the  universally  known 
fact  that  there  are  Jews  among  the  leaders 
of  Bolshevism,  in  Russia  and  elsewhere,  is 
not  evidence  that  Bolshevism  is  essentially 
or  primarily  a  Jewish  movement ;  neither  is 

it  evidence  that  Bolshevism  is  a  part  of  a 

60 


SOCIALISTS  AND  BOLSHEVISM 

Jewish  conspiracy  to  obtain  world  domina- 
tion. All  that  it  proves  is  that  which  needs 
no  proof — that  there  are  Jews  among  the 
Bolsheviki.  I  repeat  that  in  support  of  the 
charge  not  a  shred  of  credible  evidence  has 
ever  been  adduced.  In  that  shameful  book, 
The  Cause  of  World  Unrest,  consisting  of 
articles  reprinted  from  the  London  Morning 
Post,  the  anonymous  author  gives  a  list  of 
fifty  names  of  "persons  who  either  are  the 
actual  governing  powers  in  Soviet  Russia 
now  or  were  responsible  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  present  regime  there."  There 
is  both  guile  and  cowardice  in  the  latter  part 
of  this  charge.  It  is  easy  to  argue,  with  a  cer- 
tain plausibility,  that  every  person  who 
helped  in  the  revolution  of  March,  19 17, 
must  be  held  "responsible  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  present  regime."  I  have  heard 
many  Russians  make  the  charge  that  Keren- 
sky,  the  anti-Bolshevist,  was  "responsible" 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Bolshevist  re- 
gime. I  have  heard  others  charge  the  same 
thing  against  such  men  as  Rodzianko,  Prince 

61 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Lvov,  and  Professor  Miliukov.  What  these 
Russians  meant  was  that  the  failure  of  these 
men  and  others  to  deal  properly  with  the 
situation  existing  at  the  time  of  the  March 
revolution  made  the  triumph  of  Bolshevism 
possible.  In  that  sense,  we  might  as  well 
go  back  a  stage  farther  and  present  the 
names  of  Tsar  Nicholas  II  and  all  his  re- 
sponsible Ministers  as  "persons  who  .  .  . 
were  responsible  for  the  establishment  of  the 
present  regime."  This,  however,  is  not  what 
the  Morning  Post  desires  to  convey  to  the 
mind  of  the  reader.  It  insinuates,  in  a  most 
cowardly  fashion,  that  the  fifty  persons 
named  by  it  are  Bolsheviki  and  falsely 
alleges  that  of  the  fifty  no  less  than  forty- 
two  are  Jews. 

Concerning  this  list  of  names  a  few  ob- 
servations are  necessary.  The  compiler  of 
the  list  was  not  honest ;  he  did  not  intend  to 
place  the  reader  in  possession  of  the  truth. 
This  is  evidenced  by  several  facts.  In  the 
first  place,  many  influential  leaders  of  the 
Bolsheviki  whose  names  are  familiar  to  all 

62 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

who  have  given  even  ordinary  attention  to 
the  subject  are  conspicuously  absent.  The 
reason  for  the  omission  is  that  these  men  are 
non-Jews.  Their  inclusion  in  the  list  would 
have  destroyed  the  author's  charge.  He  has 
suppressed  important  facts  in  the  interest 
of  his  wretched  case.  I  searched  the  Hst  in 
vain  for  the  names  of  such  prominent  leaders 
of  the  Bolshevist  movement  as  Bucharin, 
Rakovsky,  Miliutin,  Raskolnikov,  Shliap- 
nikov,  Latzis,  Rykov,  Stalin,  Krestinsky, 
Bonch-Brouyevich,  Dybenko,  Dzerzhinsky, 
Krylenko,  Gorky,  Andreyeva,  Nogin,  Pla- 
takov,  Kalinin,  Boky,  and  many  others  less 
well  known.  Anyone  who  is  at  all  familiar 
with  the  subject  will  recognize  in  the  names 
I  have  here  given  some  of  the  most  active 
and  influential  leaders  of  the  Bolsheviki. 
Not  one  of  them  is  a  Jew,  and  I  submit  that 
to  omit  them  from  a  list  of  names  which 
pretends  to  be  representative  is  as  dis- 
honest as  it  is  cowardly. 

The  list  is  thoroughly  dishonest,  more- 
over, in  that  it  sets  down  as  Jews  men  who 

63 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

are  well  known  to  be  Gentiles.  For  ex- 
ample, Manouilsky,  number  forty-six  on 
the  list,  is  described  as  a  Jew,  whereas  it  is 
well  known  that  he  is  a  Gentile,  a  Ukrainian. 
Bogdanov,  number  ten  on  the  list,  is  like- 
wise wrongfully  described.  His  real  name 
is  not  Silberstein,  as  alleged,  but  Malinov- 
sky.  Neither  is  he  a  Jew,  as  alleged,  but  a 
Gentile,  a  Russian.  These  two  illustrations 
will  serve  to  show  how  little  reliance  can  be 
placed  upon  the  list.  Whether  there  are 
other  misrepresentations  of  the  same  kind 
I  am  unable  to  say,  for  the  reason  that  the 
list  contains  many  names  of  persons  who  do 
not  hold  and  have  not  held  any  important 
position  in  Russia,  either  under  the  Bolshe- 
viki  or  the  earlier  Provisional  Government 
headed  by  Kerensky .  These  persons  are  abso- 
lutely unknown  to  me,  even  by  name,  and 
they  are  equally  unknown  to  every  Russian 
revolutionary  leader  to  whom  I  have  sub- 
mitted them.  It  is  quite  probable,  therefore, 
that  these  names  of  alleged  Jews  hide  the 
identity  of  men  who  are  not  Jews  at  aU. 

64 


SOCIALISTS  AND  BOLSHEVISM 

Not  only  does  this  precious  list  studiously 
omit  many  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the 
Bolshevist  regime  simply  because  they  are 
not  Jews,  and  misrepresent  well-known 
Gentiles  as  Jews;  quite  as  bad  is  the  fact 
that  it  includes  many  names  of  men  who 
are  not  only  not  supporters  of  the  Bolshevist 
regime,  but  actually  leaders  of  the  most 
determined  opposition  to  it.  Here  is  a  list 
which  is  submitted  in  proof  of  the  charge 
that  ''nearly  all  the  Bolshevist  leaders  are 
Jews,"  and  in  that  list  I  find  the  names  of 
ten  men  who  are  known  to  me  to  be  among 
the  most  active  leaders  of  the  struggle 
against  the  Bolsheviki,  men  who  have  made 
heroic  sacrifices  and  risked  their  lives  in 
that  fight.  I  say  that  the  list  includes  the 
names  of  ten  men  known  to  me  to  be  bitter 
opponents  of  Bolshevism;  there  may  be 
others  concerning  whom  I  am  not  informed. 

Included  in  the  list  I  find  the  name  of 
Izgoev  (forty-three),  for  instance.  His  real 
name  is  alleged  to  be  Goldman,  when  in  fact 
it  is  Landau.     Not  only  is  he  not  a  Bolshe- 

65 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

vik,  but,  as  everybody  familiar  with  the 
Russian  movement  knows,  one  of  the  active 
publicists  of  the  Russian  Constitutional 
Democratic  party.  Orthodoks,  number 
thirty-five  on  the  list,  is  not  a  Bolshevik, 
but  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
group  of  so-called  Socialist  Patriots,  the 
"Unity"  group  organized  by  the  late  George 
Plechanov  to  support  the  Allied  war  aims, 
an  organization  that  did  much  to  strengthen 
Russian  morale  in  the  early  stages  of  the 
war  and  which  has  vigorously  and  bitterly 
opposed  Bolshevism  and  all  its  ways. 
Boimakov,  number  forty-five  on  the  list,  is 
also  a  leader  of  the  anti-Bolshevist  forces. 
When  I  was  in  Paris  recently  he  was  there 
actively  engaged  with  other  Socialists  in 
canying  on  anti-Bolshevist  propaganda. 
Kamkov,  nimiber  fifteen  on  the  list,  was 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Socialists-Revolu- 
tionists party,  a  determined  opponent  of  the 
Bolsheviki.  According  to  the  best  informa- 
tion at  my  command,  he  was  one  of  the 
men  responsible  for  the  assassination  of  the 

66 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

German  ambassador,  Count  von  Mirbach, 
which  was  a  protest  against  the  Treaty  of 
Brest-Litovsk,  and  was  put  to  death  by  the 
Bolsheviki.  Gorev,  number  eleven  on  the 
list,  has  consistently  opposed  Bolshevism 
with  the  rest  of  his  colleagues  of  the  Menshe- 
viki.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  Abramo- 
vich  (twenty-four),  of  Dan  (seventeen),  of 
Martinov  (twenty-one),  of  Martov  (four), 
and  of  Meshkovsky  (eighteen). 
,  The  anonymous  author  of  The  Cause  of 
World  Unrest  says  of  this  list  that  it  is  "the 
result  of  much  labor  and  the  work  of  several 
hands."  I  do  not  need  to  characterize  it,  in 
the  light  of  the  foregoing  analysis.  The 
facts  to  which  I  have  called  attention  can 
be  very  readily  verified.  I  submit  that  most 
abject  apology  is  due  to  the  reader  from  every- 
body concerned  in  the  preparation  and  cir- 
culation of  this  book — from  the  anonymous 
author,  the  compiler  of  the  list,  the  London 
Morning  Post,  and  the  publishers.  There  is 
nothing  more  contemptible  than  such  poison- 
ing of  the  wells  of  public  information. 

67 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

For  the  present  I  have  finished  with  the 
Morning  Post.  Let  us  turn  now  to  Mr. 
Ford's  Dearborn  Independent.  In  its  issue 
of  May  29,  1920,  this  organ  of  American 
anti-Semitism  desperately  tries  to  bolster 
up  the  charge  that  nearly  all  the  leaders  of 
the  Bolsheviki  are  Jews  by  a  clumsy  inven- 
tion of  its  own.    It  says: 

Every  commisar  in  Russia  to-day  is  a  Jew. 
Publicists  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  Russia  as  if 
it  were  in  disorder,  but  the  Jewish  government  of 
Russia  is  not.  From  a  mass  of  underlings,  the 
Jews  of  Russia  came  up  in  a  perfect  phalanx,  a  flying 
wedge  through  the  superinduced  disorder,  as  if 
every  man's  place  had  been  previously  prepared  for 
him. 

For  these  statements  there  is  no  justifica- 
tion in  fact.  They  are  absolutely  and  un- 
qualifiedly untrue,  as  every  person  familiar 
with  the  facts  must  know.  It  is  not  true 
that  "every  commissar  in  Russia  to-day  is 
a  Jew."  Not  even  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  of  People's  Commissars 
are  Jews.  Lenin,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the 
government,  is  not  a  Jew.  Tchitcherin,  who 

68 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

is  in  charge  of  foreign  affairs,  is  not  a  Jew. 
Krassin,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  trade  nego- 
tiations with  the  British  government,  is  not 
a  Jew.  These  three  men  wield  greater  power 
and  influence  in  Soviet  Russia  than  all  the 
Jewish  officials  combined.  Dzerzhinsky, 
head  of  the  infamous  Extraordinary  Com- 
missions, is  not  a  Jew.  Lunarcharsky,  who 
has  charge  of  public  education,  is  not  a  Jew. 
Rykov,  chairman  of  the  Economic  Council, 
is  not  a  Jew.  Bonch-Brouyevich,  secretary 
of  the  Council  of  People's  Commissars,  is 
not  a  Jew.  Kolontai  is  not  a  Jewess.  There 
are  many  other  Gentile  Commissars.  How 
completely  the  London  Morning  Post  and 
the  Dearborn  Independent  misrepresent  the 
essential  facts  I  have  already  shown  by  my 
analysis  of  the  pretentious  list  of  fifty  names 
published  by  the  former.  I  have  before  me 
the  official  list  of  the  members  of  the  Sov- 
narkom — that  is,  the  Council  of  the  People's 
Commissars  of  the  Soviet  government.  As 
is  well  known,  the  elaborate  and  intricate 
governmental  system  of  Soviet  Russia  cen- 

69 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

ters  ultimate  authority  in  this  Council  of 
People's  Commissars,  which  consists  of 
seventeen  members.  A  most  striking  refuta- 
tion of  the  statement  made  by  the  Dearborn 
Independent  is  fotmd  in  the  fact  that  of  the 
seventeen  members  of  this  supreme  Bolshe- 
vist authority  only  one.  Trotzky,  is  a  Jew. 
The  official  list  speaks  for  itself. 


Official  Name 

1.  N.  Lenin  > 

2.  G.  Tchitcherin  ' 

3.  L.  Trotzky  ' 

4^  E.  Raskolnikov ' 

5.  G.  Petrovsky  > 

6.  N.  Krestinsky ' 

7.  L.  Krassin  > 

8.  S.  Sereda  > 

9.  N.  Bruchanov » 

10.  A.  Lunarcharsky ' 

11.  V.  Stuchka' 

12.  A.  Kolontai  • 

13.  V.  Smidt » 

14.  A.  Rykov » 

15.  K.  Stalin  • 

16.  Dr.  N.  Semashko  ' 

17.  V,  Bonch-Brouyevich ' 


Real  Name 
Oulianov 
G.  Tchitcherin 
Bronstein 
E.  Raskolnikov 
G.  Petrovsky 
N.  Krestinsky 
L.  Krassin 


S.  Sereda 

N.  Bruchanov 

A.  Lunarcharsky 

V.  Stuchka 

A.  Kolontai 

V.  Smidt 

A.  Rykov 

Djuga^-hvili 

Dr.  N.  Semashko 

V.  Bonch-Brouyevich 


>Russiaa 


'Jew 


'  Georgian 


Department 

President 

Foreign  Affairs 

War 

Navy 

Interior 

Finance 

Industry  and  Com- 
merce and  Ways  of 
Communication 

Agriculture 

Supply 

Public  Instructi« 

Justice 

Public  Welfare 

Labor 

Chairman,  Economic 
Council 

National  Affairs 

Public  Health 

Executive  secretary 
of  the  Council  of 
People's  Commis- 
sars 


Of  coiirse  there  are  many  Jews  holding 
minor  positions  in  the  Bolshevist  regime. 

70 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  name  any 
part  of  the  Russian  population  to  which 
that  statement  would  not  equally  apply. 
For  millions  of  people,  Christians  and  Jews 
alike,  the  only  possible  alternative  to  star- 
vation and  death  is  to  accept  service  imder 
the  Bolsheviki.  Even  loyal  generals  of  the 
Tsar's  army  have  accepted  such  service  in 
order  to  avoid  the  starvation  of  themselves 
and  their  loved  ones,  despite  their  hatred  of 
Bolshevism  and  the  Bolsheviki.  It  is  a 
fact,  however,  that  there  are  very  few  Jews 
holding  responsible  posts  in  the  Bolshe- 
vist government  of  Russia,  while  there  are 
many  Jews  prominently  identified  with  the 
anti-Bolshevist  movement.  I  have  followed 
very  closely  the  accounts  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Bolshevist  movement  and  of  the 
Communist  party,  as  reported  in  the  official 
press,  and  have  paid  special  attention  to  the 
activity  of  the  Jews.  Up  to  the  present 
my  list  of  Jews  holding  prominent  positions 
in  either  the  Soviet  government  or  the 
Commimist  party  contains  less  than  twenty 

6  71 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

names,  y^t  I  believe  it  is  fairly  complete. 
It  includes  the  names  of  Trotzky,  Steklov, 
Zinoviev,  Kamenev,  Uritsky,  Volodarsky, 
Sverdlov,  Ganetsky,  Helfandt  (Parvus), 
Riazanov,  Radek,  Litvinov,  Joffe,  and 
Larin.  It  will  be  rather  difficult,  I  think, 
to  name  any  important  omissions.  As 
against  this  meager  list  of  Jews,  a  very 
hastily  compiled  list  of  non-Jews  who  are 
prominent  in  the  government  or  in  the 
Communist  party  contains  seventy-five 
names.  In  this  list  I  do  not  include  any  of 
the  many  former  generals  of  the  Tsar's  army 
now  holding  important  positions  in  the 
Red  Army  and  various  departments  of  the 
Soviet  government.  With  entire  confidence 
I  submit  these  incontestable  facts  to  my 
readers  in  reply  to  the  Dearborn  Inde- 
pendent. 

It  is  absvirdly  imtrue  to  say,  as  the 
Dearborn  Independent  does,  that  "the  Jews 
of  Russia  came  up  in  a  perfect  phalanx" 
after  the  overthrow  of  tsarism.  Through- 
out the  revolutionary  period  the  Jews  in 

72 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

Russia  have  presented  about  the  same 
poHtical  divisions  as  the  Russian  population 
in  general.  Like  the  overwhelming  mass 
of  the  Russian  people,  they  are  anti- 
Bolshevist.  Even  if  we  confine  our  atten- 
tion to  the  Jewish  Socialists,  overlooking 
for  the  moment  the  large  number  of  Jews 
belonging  to  the  Constitutional  Democrats 
and  other  non-Socialist  parties,  we  shall 
find  absolutely  no  evidence  of  anything 
approaching  a  united  Jewish  Socialist  sup- 
port of  the  Bolsheviki.  On  the  contrary, 
the  most  implacable  and  determined  op- 
ponents of  the  Bolsheviki  have  been,  and 
still  are,  Jewish  Socialists.  Such  Jews  as 
Martov,  Dan,  Lieber,  Abramovich,  and 
others  have  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  relentless  and  unremitting  opposition 
to  the  Bolsheviki. 

In  reply  to  Mr.  William  Hard,  who  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  Jews  Hke  Vinaver, 
Martov,  and  others  have  been  as  active  on 
the  anti-Bolshevist  side  as  Trotzky,  Ka- 
menev,  Zinoviev,  and  others  have  been  on 

73 


^ 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

the  Bolshevist  side,  the  anonymous  writer 
employed  by  the  Dearborn  Independent 
resorts  to  a  more  cowardly  and  despicable 
controversial  trick  than  I  have  hitherto 
encountered,  even  in  anti-Semitic  litera- 
tiire.  Having  charged  that  the  Jews  were 
united  "in  a  perfect  phalanx"  in  support  of 
Bolshevism,  when  confronted  by  Mr.  Hard 
with  the  evidence  that  there  are  Jews  at  the 
head  of  the  anti-Bolshevist  forces,  he  coolly 
abandons  his  charge  and  insinuates  an- 
other. He  says:  " Look  how  the  Jews  con- 
trol every  phase  of  political  opinion  in 
Russia!  Doesn't  there  seem  to  be  some 
grotmd  for  the  feeling  that  they  are  desirous 
of  ruling  everywhere?" 

Not  often,  I  venture  to  say,  has  any 
American  journalist  descended  to  this  low 
level.  I  am  justified  in  asking  Mr.  Ford, 
who  is  primarily  responsible  for  the  Dear- 
horn  Independent  and  for  its  policy,  whether 
he  considers  it  to  be  compatible  with  sound 
American  citizenship  and  with  the  tradi- 
tions of  our  race  to  spread  broadcast  through 

74 


SOCIALISTS  AND  BOLSHEVISM 

the  land  such  cruelly  unjust  appeals  to 
prejudice..  Surely  it  is  not  difficult  to  see 
this  matter  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  Jew, 
which  in  this  instance  is  also  the  viewpoint 
of  every  fair-minded  non-Jew.  For  the  ' 
Jew  it  is  a  case  of  being  damned  either  way.  v 
When  it  is  noted  that  there  are  a  few  Jews 
holding  prominent  positions  in  the  Bolshe- 
vist regime,  the  whole  race  is  stigmatized 
and  charged  with  being  engaged  in  a  con- 
spiracy to  destroy  civilization;  but  when 
attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  other 
Jews,  far  more  nimierous,  are  engaged  in 
fighting  Bolshevism  and  attempting  to  save 
civilization,  no  credit  for  that  fact  is  given 
to  the  race;  it  is  not  admitted  as  a  fact 
modifying  the  previously  formed  sweeping 
judgment,  but,  on  the  contrary,  is  held  to 
be  additional  evidence  of  guilt.  Nothing 
that  Bolshevist  propagandists  have  at- 
tempted to  do  in  this  coimtry  involves  any- 
thing like  the  peril  to  our  institutions  that  is 
involved  in  this  deliberate  attempt  to  silence 
the  anti-Bolshevist  Jews  by  making  even 

75 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

their  propaganda  against  Bolshevism  ap- 
pear as  part  of  a  conspiracy  against  those 
institutions. 

\I  am  not  here  and  now  concerned  to  de- 
fend the  Jews.  Even  were  my  gifts  much 
greater,  I  should  not  presume  to  arrogate  to 
myself  that  honor.  The  defense  of  the 
Jewish  people  against  the  aspersions  cast 
upon  them  by  this  cruel  propaganda  belongs 
in  the  first  place  to  Jewish  scholars  and 
publicists  and  can  be  left  to  them.  My 
concern  is  the  defense  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, of  American  ideals  and  institutions,  of 
the  noblest  Anglo-Saxon  traditions.  These 
things  are  otu  greatest  wealth ;  they  are  the 
heritage  of  our  children.  When,  therefore, 
this  hateful  propaganda  imperils  these 
things,  it  is  both  my  duty  and  my  privilege 
to  defend  them.  Anti-Semitism  has  no 
place  in  Christian  civilization;  its  spirit  and 
its  language  are  both  alien  and  hostile  to 
our  Republic  and  to  the  genius  of  the  race 
of  Milton  and  Lincoln.' 

It  can  be  demonstrated  to  the  full  satis- 
76 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

faction  of  any  open-minded  person  of  nor- 
mal intelligence  that  Bolshevism  is  the  ne- 
gation of  the  faith  and  morals  which  consti- 
tute the  strongest  bond  of  the  Jewish  people. 
Trotzky  has  many  times  declared  that  he  is 
no  Jew,  but  a  "general  proletarian,"  and 
Bela  Ktm,  in  a  formal  statement,  declared 
himself  to  be  opposed  to  all  religions  and 
national  cultures,  the  Jewish  included,  and 
that  he  stood  only  for  the  economic  interests 
of  the  proletariat.  I  could  quote  many 
similar  statements  by  prominent  Jewish 
Bolsheviki,  were  it  necessary.  The  position 
taken  by  these  men  is,  of  cotirse,  entirely 
logical.  Not  only  is  Bolshevism  funda- 
mentally opposed  to  the  Jewish  religion;  it 
is  equally  antagonistic  to  the  principle  of 
nationality  itself.  How,  then,  can  it  be  pos- 
sible to  regard  Bolshevism  as  typically  and 
essentially  Jewish,  or  as  part  of  an  all- 
Jewish  conspiracy?  Is  it  possible  to  believe 
that  a  great  conspiratory  scheme  to  direct 
the  whole  weight  and  influence  of  the  Jewish 
people  to  a  single  political  end,  conceived 

77 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

and  led  by  the  ablest  leaders  of  that  great 
people  so  remarkable  for  their  intellectual 
power,  would  or  cotild  rest  upon  principles 
diametrically  and  irreconcilably  opposed  to 
the  greatest  psychological  force  motivating 
the  conduct  of  the  masses  of  that  people? 

These  questions  by  themselves  shatter  the 
charge  we  are  discussing.  There  is,  however, 
an  immense  mass  of  direct  and  positive 
evidence  available  to  all  who  desire  to  know 
the  truth,  but  which  is  carefully  and  studi- 
ously ignored  by  the  preachers  of  anti- 
Semitism.  If  such  men  as  Mr.  Ford  are 
ignorant  of  the  existence  of  this  evidence, 
as  we  must  suppose  them  to  be,  their  offense 
against  America  and  American  ideals  is  not 
thereby  appreciably  lessened;  their  reckless 
and  irresponsible  use  of  the  wealth  and 
other  influential  agents  at  their  command 
adds  to  the  sum  of  their  shame  and  wrong- 
doing. The  greatest  and  strongest  Jewish 
Socialist  organization  in  Russia  and  Poland, 
the  "Bund,"  has  stood  in  solid  opposition 
to  Bolshevism  and  the  Bolshevist  regime 

78 


SOCIALISTS  AND   BOLSHEVISM 

from  the  very  beginning  until  now.  Not 
only  have  leaders  of  the  right  wing,  or  mod- 
erate section  of  the  **Bund,"  such  as  Lieber, 
fought  Bolshevism  with  their  full  might, 
but  leaders  of  the  radical  left  wing,  such  as 
Kossovsky  and  Medem,  have  been  equally 
courageous  and  uncompromising  on  the 
same  side.*  A  tiny  and  negligible  minority 
split  off  from  the  "Bund"  because  of  its 
anti-Bolshevist  character  and  formed  a  new 
organization,  the  "  Commimist  Bimd."  Sim- 
ilarly, the  overwhelming  mass  of  the  Zionist 
party  has  consistently  opposed  Bolshevism 
and  all  its  works,  and  such  men  as  Doctor 
Pasmanick,  the  well-known  Zionist  leader  of 
Odessa,  have  given  their  full  support  to 
every  anti-Bolshevist  movement,  political 
and  military. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  activity  of 
the  well-known  Jewish  leader,  Vinaver,  in 
the  fight  against  Bolshevism.  Mr.  Vinaver 
is  not  a  Socialist;  on  the  contrary,  during 

'  See  the  articles  published  in  the  New  York  pro-Bolshevist 
weekly,  Die  Neue  Welt,  June  27,  July  4  and  li,  1919. 

79 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

many  years  he  has  been  a  consistent  oppo- 
nent of  Socialism  and  one  of  the  foremost 
leaders  of  the  Constitutional  Democratic 
party,  of  whose  Central  Committee  he  was, 
and  I  believe  still  is,  the  chairman.  Imme- 
diately after  the  March  revolution  of  191 7, 
Mr.  Vinaver  was  appointed  Senator  by  the 
First  Provisional  Government.  He  was 
elected  to  the  Constituent  Assembly  from 
Petrograd,  and  later  on,  after  his  escape 
from  Petrograd,  served  as  Minister  of  For- 
eign Aifair<i  in  the  government  of  the  Cri- 
mea. This  prominent  Jewish  anti-Socialist 
testifies  that  "not  a  single  Jewish  Socialist 
faction  has  joined  the  Bolsheviki."  From  a 
report  on  this  subject  cabled  to  this  coimtry 
by  Vinaver  in  July,  191 9, 1  quote  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs,  which  speak  for  themselves. 

The  entire  Russian  Jewry  struggles  against 
Bolshevism.  This  is  true  not  only  with  regard  to 
tho.  bourgeoisie,  but  to  the  democratic  classes  of  the 
Russian  Jewry  as  well.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
not  a  single  Jewish  Socialist  faction  has  joined  the 
Bolsheviki,  All  political  factions  of  the  Russian 
Jewry  are  struggHng  against  Bolshevism. 

80 


SOCIALISTS  AND  BOLSHEVISM 

The  great  majority  of  the  Jewish  population,  in- 
cluding many  of  the  poor,  are  being  classed  by  the 
Bolsheviki  with  the  so-called  bourgeoisie,  and  every 
place  where  the  Bolsheviki  rule,  the  Jewish  popula- 
tion, not  to  speak  of  very  insignificant  exceptions,  is 
suffering  and  starving. 

The  Bolshevist  regime  has  destroyed  the  indus- 
tries and  the  trade,  and  the  Jewish  population, 
which  made  its  living  mostly  through  participation 
in  the  industrial  and  commercial  life,  is  suffering 
probably  more  than  other  nationalities.  At  the 
same  time,  the  Bolsheviki  are  persecuting  all  re- 
ligions, and  the  Jewish  religious  institutions  have 
suffered  from  their  despotic  rule  not  less  than  the 
institutions  of  the  Christian  religion. 

The  anti-Semites  are  making  very  wide  use  of  the 
fact  that  Trotzky  is  a  Jew,  but  the  participation  of 
several  Jews  among  the  Bolshevist  leaders  does  not 
nullify  the  fact  that  the  Russian  Jewry,  in  its  over- 
whelming majority,  struggles  actively  against  Bol- 
shevism. It  is  significant  that  Bolshevism  spread 
mostly  in  central  and  eastern  Russia  where  the  Jews 
constitute  an  insignificant  minority. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  only  So- 
cialist elected  to  the  United  States  Congress 
in  the  recent  election,  Meyer  London,  a 
Russian-bom  Jew,  is  a  vigorous  opponent  of 
Bolshevism.     In  view  of  such  evidence  as 

the   foregoing,   it   is  surely  not   less   than 

8i 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

ridiculous  to  attempt  to  make  Bolshevism' 
appear  as  a  phase  of  Jewish  Socialism,  and  a 
part  of  a  world-wide  Jewish  conspiracy,  in- 
stead of  what  it  is — namely,  the  wild 
anarchical  outburst  of  despairing  and  des- 
perate masses  of  men.  I  venture  to  say  that 
when  the  history  of  this  tragic  episode  in  the 
life  of  Russia  is  authoritatively  written,  it 
will  be  foimd  that  Jews  have  not  been  re- 
sponsible for  the  most  objectionable  features 
of  Bolshevism.  Not  even  Trotzky  need  be 
excluded  from  this  generalization,  for,  while 
it  is  true  that  his  genius  made  Bolshevism 
the  formidable  military  power  it  became, 
the  brutal  excesses  of  the  Red  Terror  must 
be  charged  against  such  men  as  Peters,  the 
Lett,  and  Dzerzhinsky,  the  Pole. 


VI 

BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

NO  one  who  knows  how  the  Jews  of 
Russia,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the 
population,  have  suffered  from  Bolshevist 
misrule  will  be  likely  to  give  credence  to  the 
theory  that  Bolshevism  is  part  of  a  Jewish 
conspiracy.  As  everybody  knows,  Jews 
made  up  a  very  considerable  part  of  the 
commercial  class  in  Russia.  The  indemni- 
ties levied  upon  this  class  by  the  Bolshevist 
commissions  in  the  cities  have  applied 
equally  to  Jew  and  Gentile.  It  is  a  fact 
that  ordinary  Jewish  shopkeepers  have  been 
compelled  to  pay  their  full  share  of  the 
indemnities  so  levied.  Scores  of  thousands 
of  Jews  have  had  their  property  confiscated 
and  been  reduced  to  abject  poverty.  Many 
thousands  more  have  had  to  flee,  leaving 

83 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

everjrthing  behind  them,  thankful  only  that 
they  could  save  their  lives.  The  Chresvy- 
chaikas  have  drawn  no  distinction  between 
Jew  and  Gentile,  and  the  available  records, 
meager  as  they  are,  prove  that  the  Jews 
have  contributed  their  full  quota  to  the  long 
list  of  the  victims  of  these  infamous  terror- 
ist organizations.  Pogroms  and  other  mani- 
festations of  anti-Semitism  have  been  too 
common  in  Bolshevist  Russia  to  permit  any 
suspicion  that  Bolshevism  is  a  pro- Jewish 
movement.  The  evidence  upon  this  point  is 
overwhelming. 

I  am  quite  well  aware  that  the  statement 
that  pogroms  have  been  common  in  Bol- 
shevist Russia  will  be  challenged  and  indig- 
nantly denied  by  many  of  our  American 
defenders  of  the  Bolsheviki,  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles alike.  It  is  none  the  less  a  well-attested 
fact.  I  have  in  my  possession  a  mass  of 
evidence  which  amply  proves  the  truth  of 
the  statement.  At  the  same  time,  I  do  not 
mean  to  charge  that  the  Soviet  government 
has   deHberately  instigated   or   authorized 

84 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

pogroms.  Indeed,  I  am  quite  ready  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Soviet  govermnent  has  hon- 
estly desired  and  attempted  to  prevent  such 
pogroms.  Lenin  accepted  the  presidency  of 
an  organization  formed  to  combat  anti- 
Semitism.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  just 
as  pogroms  have  admittedly  taken  place  in 
the  new  republic  of  Poland,  despite  the 
efforts  of  the  PoHsh  government  to  prevent 
them,  and  just  as  pogroms  were  carried  out 
by  Denikin's  Volunteer  Army  despite  Gen- 
eral Denikin's  attempts  to  prevent  them, 
and  the  severe  punishments  inflicted  by  him 
upon  the  culprits,  so  regular  Bolshevist 
troops  in  southern  Russia  have  plundered 
and  murdered  Jews  and  raped  and  muti- 
lated Jewish  women  and  girls.  Just  as  these 
lines  are  being  written  word  comes,  from 
sources  of  imquestionable  authority,  of  po- 
groms against  the  Jews  in  the  Ukraine,  in 
which  Bolshevist  troops  participated. 

The  Pogrom  Victims'  Relief  Committee 
of  the  Russian  Red  Cross  Society  published 
a  report  of  its  investigations  of  the  Jewish 

8S 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

pogroms  in  southern  Russia  during  the 
period  when  General  Denikin's  forces  were 
fighting  the  Bolsheviki.  The  report,  based 
upon  evidence  of  unquestionable  reliability, 
showed  that  Jews  had  been  plundered  and 
murdered  not  only  by  disorderly  troops  of 
Denikin's  Volunteer  Army,  and  by  the 
troops  of  Petlura  and  by  the  robber  bands 
led  by  ''atamans,"  like  Makhno,  but  also  by 
regular  Bolshevist  troops.  The  report  at- 
tributes to  the  latter  the  destruction  of  at 
least  thirteen  Jewish  commimities  in  south- 
ern Russia  and  the  murder  of  five  hundred 
Jews.  And  this  is  only  one  report  of  many. 
Before  me  as  I  write  is  the  account  given  by 
an  eyewitness  of  the  pogrom  which  opened 
at  Novo-Poltavka  on  September  i,  191 9, 
and  lasted  through  the  whole  of  the  week 
following.  More  than  one  hundred  Jews 
were  murdered,  numerous  women  and  girls 
were  raped,  and  the  entire  colony  was  plun- 
dered. This  pogrom  was  carried  on  by  the 
guerrilla  bands  led  by  "atamans"  Makhno 
and  Grigoriev,  together  with  regular  Bol- 

86 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

shevist  troops.^  Do  you  ask  me  to  believe 
that  these  pogroms  were  deliberately 
brought  about  as  part  of  a  ''Jewish" 
conspiracy? 

Under  the  rule  of  the  Bolsheviki  the  local 
organs  of  Jewish  autonomy  in  the  Ukraine 
were  entirely  destroy ed.^  The  chairman 
of  the  Jewish  Community  in  Kiev,  Mr.  D. 
Levenstein,  has  testified  to  the  brutal  treat- 
ment of  the  Jews  in  that  city  dining  the 
Bolshevist  occupation.  Vladimir  Kossov- 
sky,  one  of  the  foremost  leaders  of  the 
"Bund,"  well  known  in  Socialist  inter- 
national circles,  in  an  article  published  in 
the  Jewish  Socialist  monthly,  Die  Zukunft, 
of  New  York,  says: 

Jewish  pogroms  in  Bolshevist  Russia  have  occurred 
with  particular  intensity  during  the  first  half  of 
19 1 8.  I  shall  point,  as  an  example,  to  the  pogroms 
in  Gulkhov,  in  the  government  of  Chernigov,  where 
they  assimied  a  particularly  brutal  form,  and  in  a 


1  The  full   account   of   this   eyewitness   appeared   in    the 
Odesskiya  Novosti,  September  27,   1919. 

2  Statement   by    Dr.    M.    Zitron,   Dos    Yiddishe    Volk,    of 
Warsaw,  July  11,  1919. 

7  87 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

number  of  places  in   the   Poliesiye.     All  of  these 
pogroms  were  the  work  of  Bolshevist  troops. 

The  Glukhov  pogrom,  which  has  attained  such 
sad  notoriety,  started  on  February  28,  19 18,  after  a 
Bolshevist  detachment  had  entered  the  city.  The 
Red  Army  men,  transformed  into  savage  beasts, 
murdered  the  arrested  Jews  who  were  being  taken 
under  guard  to  the  building  of  the  Soviet,  and  the 
street  which  housed  the  Soviet  was  literally  sodden  with 
Jevinsh  blood.  All  Jewish  stores  and  residences  were 
sacked.  Peasants  from  the  near-by  villages  soon 
joined  the  plunderers  of  the  Red  Guard  in  ^  their 
work  of  looting  and  pillaging.  According  to  news- 
paper reports,  four  hundred  and  fifty  Jews  were 
murdered,  among  these  some  Jewish  soldiers  who 
had  been  rewarded  with  "St.  George"  medals  for 
bravery.  Long  lists  of  victims — such  as  could  be 
identified — were  at  that  time  published  in  the  news- 
papers. The  pogrom  was  directed  exclusively  against 
the  Jews,  and  the  Christian  population  of  the  city 
did  not  suffer  in  the  least. 

Concerning  the  pogroms  in  Poliesiye, 
Kossovsky  quotes  from  the  official  organ  of 
the  Menshevist  party,  the  Novaia  Zaria,  of 
Moscow,  June  10,  1918,  the  following: 

The  large  Jewish  population  of  this  region 
(Poliesiye)  finds  itself  in  a  particularly  tragic  situa- 
tion. The  "activity"  of  the  Red  Army  in  Novogo- 
rod-Sieversk,  Seredina-Buda,  and  Glukhov,  where 

88 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

the  Soviet  detachments  massacred  the  Jewish  popu- 
lations, has  found  an  echo  in  other  cities,  and  the 
sword  of  Damocles  hangs  at  present  over  the  un- 
fortunate Jewish  people.  In  the  city  of  Potchep 
the  Jews  saved  themselves  from  a  pogrom  by  col- 
lecting in  time  fifteen  thousand  rubles,  which  they 
handed  over  to  the  pogrom-mad  Red  Army  detach- 
ment upon  its  entrance  into  the  city,  in  addition  to 
giving  it  a  splendid  reception  and  a  sumptuous  feast. 
As  reward  for  this  reception  the  bashi-bazouks  of  the 
Soviet  decided  to  spare  the  city. 

Pogroms  and  other  manifestations  of 
anti-Semitism  have  been  so  common  in 
Bolshevist  Russia  as  to  make  tl.e  "Jewish 
question"  one  of  extreme  difficulty  and 
importance.  In  numerous  Soviets,  notably 
Yaroslavl,  Vitebsk,  and  Smolensk,  Jewish 
members  were  openly  insulted  by  the 
Bolsheviki;  such  epithets  as  "szhidf 
("sheeny!")  were  htirled  at  the  Jewish 
members.  Once  more  I  quote  from  the 
article  by  Kossovsky: 

In  the  provinces  the  pogrom  mania  invaded  even 
the  Soviets,  not  mentioning  the  Red  Army  which 
became  more  and  more  infected  with  it.  According 
to  the  Kiev  Naiye  Zait,  in  the  Vitebsk  Soviet  shouts 
were  heard,  "Chase  the  Jews  out  of  the  Soviets 

89 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

and  its  institutions!"  In  the  Yaroslavl  Soviet, 
according  to  information  printed  in  the  Moscow 
Social-Democratic  newspaper,  Vperiod,  there  were 
often  heard  insulting  and  shameful  cries  directed 
against  the  Jews.  In  Smolensk,  according  to 
Svohodnaya  Rossia,  members  of  the  Red  Army- 
would  come  to  the  Soviet  and  demand  that  Jews  be 
barred  from  holding  posts  as  war  commissaries  and 
commanders.  A  lively  anti-Semitic  propaganda  was 
carried  on  in  Moscow  and  Petrograd,  too,  though 
it  never  reached  the  stage  of  a  pogrom.  In  Petro- 
grad anti- Jewish  posters,  signed  by  a  "Kamorra  of 
the  People's  Revenge,"  were  spread  broadcast.  As  a 
result  of  the  apprehensiveness  aroused,  detachments 
for  self-defense  were  organized  by  the  Jews  of 
Moscow.  In  Petrograd  the  Bolshevist  authorities 
did  not  permit  the  organization  of  self-defense 
bodies,  fearing  lest  the  weapons  of  the  self-defense 
detachments  be  turned  against  the  Soviet. 

Upon  the  initiative  of  the  Petrograd  Jewish  Com- 
munity the  day  of  May  23,  19 18,  was  designated  as 
a  Jewish  National  Day  of  Mourning  throughout 
Russia  as  a  protest  against  the  latter-day  Jewish 
pogroms  in  Russia.  On  that  day  the  Jews  were  to 
close  all  their  business  establishments,  not  to  issue 
newspapers,  etc.,  etc.  The  May  23d  issue  of  the 
Petrograd  Jewish  daily,  Unser  Tagblat,  appeared  in 
a  black  border  and  was  full  of  articles  relating  to 
anti- Jewish  attacks  and  pogroms,  entitled:  "Pro- 
test by  Mourning,"  "Let  Jewish  Blood  Boil,"  "The 
Day  of  Sorrow,"  "The  Bloody  Roll  (Statistics 
Concerning  Jewish  Pogroms)."  To  convey  to  the 
reader  the  substance  of  these  articles  I  will  quote 

90 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

the  closing  words  of  the  article,  "The  Bloody  Roll " : 
"The  old  tsarist,  bloody  Russia,  fell,  and  a  new 
Russia,  a  radical-Socialist,  a  communist,  Russia 
came  in  its  place.  And  still,  as  before,  we  stand 
facing  a  roster  of  Jewish  pogroms,  a  roster  which  is, 
as  yet,  far  from  ended,  as  each  day  adds  new  names, 
new  victims,  and  new  massacres. " 

Mr.  Louis  Marshall,  who  is  universally 
recognized  as  one  of  the  foremost  leaders  of 
the  American  Jewry  and  who  headed  the 
American- Jewish  delegation  to  the  Peace 
Conference,  in  an  interview  published  in  y 
the  New  York  Jewish  daily  newspaper,  The 
Day,  July  27,  1919,  categorically  denied 
the  assertion  that  there  have  been  no 
Jewish  pogroms  imder  the  rule  of  the 
Bolsheviki.  He  declared  that  such  pogroms 
took  place  in  the  districts  of  the  Ukraine 
controlled  by  the  Bolsheviki  as  well  as  in 
those  controlled  by  the  robber  bands. 
"We  know  of  such  pogroms  having  oc- 
curred," he  said,  ''and  very  often  the 
Bolsheviki  care  just  as  little  about  the 
Jews  as  others  who  make  pogroms.  It  is 
possible  that  some  of  their  pogroms  are  at 

91 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

times  different,  but  in  substance  there  were 
Jewish  pogroms  in  Bolshevist  territory  as 
well,"  Mr.  Marshall  added  the  following 
observation:  "All  Jewish  representatives 
that  I  have  met  in  Paris  who  came  from 
Russia  are  strong  opponents  of  Bolshevism. 
Even  to  this  day  the  Jewish  Socialist  par- 
ties are  no  less  sharp  in  their  condemna- 
tion of  the  Bolsheviki  than  are  the  bourgeois 
parties.'' 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover, 
there  is  not  a  large  Jewish  Community  in 
Russia  which  has  not  repudiated  Bolshe- 
vism. Not  in  a  single  instance  has  the  sup- 
port of  the  leaders  of  such  a  Community 
been  given  to  the  Lenin -Trot zky  regime. 
For  example,  I  have  before  me  the  report 
of  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Jewish 
Community  of  Archangel,  which  took  place 
on  May  ii,  1919.  Therein  is  contained  a 
Memorandimi  by  the  Council  of  the  Com- 
mimity  on  the  relation  of  the  Jews  to 
Bolshevism.  The  Memorandum  points  out 
that,  while  it  is  true  that  there  are  Jews 

ga 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

among  the  leaders  of  the  Bolsheviki,  it  is 
also  true  that  there  are  many  Jews  among 
the  leaders  of  the  anti-Bolshevist  forces. 
It  names  such  men  as  MM.  Vinaver,  Gotz, 
Minor,  Bliumkin  (who  assassinated  Count 
Mirbach),  Kannengisser  (who  shot  Uritzki), 
and  Dora  Kaplan  (who  attempted  to  as- 
sassinate Lenin  and  forfeited  her  own  life). 
The  Memorandum  asks  the  non- Jewish 
world  to  remember  that  all  of  the  Jews 
connected  with  the  Bolshevist  movement 
in  any  prominent  capacity  are  apostates, 
that  not  one  of  them  ever  took  the  slightest 
part  in  the  affairs  of  Russian  Jewry,  and 
that  the  Jewish  people  only  learned  of  their 
existence  at  about  the  same  time  and  in 
the  same  way  as  the  Russian  people  in 
general  became  aware  of  the  existence  of 
such  non-Jewish  Bolshevist  leaders  as  Lenin, 
Lunarcharsky,  Tchitcherin,  Krylenko,  Dy- 
benko,  and  many  others.  Attention  is 
called  to  the  fact  that  prominent  Jewish 
national  workers  in  Russia  have  been  sub- 
jected to  the  same  persecution  and  mal- 

93 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

treatment  by  the  Bolsheviki  as  the  public- 
spirited  men  and  women  of  other  national- 
ities. The  Memorandum  cites  the  im- 
prisonment of  Doctor  Maze,  Rabbi  of  the 
Moscow  Commimity,  and  the  confiscation 
of  the  buildings  belonging  to  the  Petrograd 
Jewish  Community,  where  the  cultural  and 
religious  institutions  of  the  Jews  of  that 
city  were  centered.  I  commend  to  the  at- 
tention of  all  fair-minded  men  and  women 
the  following  paragraph  from  this  document : 

Aside  from  this  group  of  Jewish  Bolshevist  lead- 
ers there  is  the  Jewish  people,  the  many  millions 
of  the  Jewish  population  of  Russia.  The  unassum- 
ing representatives  of  that  Jewish  Community  of 
Archangel  take  the  liberty  to  affirm  that  neither  the 
Jewish  people  as  a  whole,  nor  any  of  its  socially 
organized  groups,  are  responsible  for  the  savagery, 
violence,  acts  of  blasphemy,  and  mockery  of  human 
rights  which  characterize  the  Bolshevist  regime. 

The  Jewish  people  are  fully  familiar  with  acts  of 
brutality,  with  the  Red  Terror,  familiar  from  long- 
past  experience  and  from  present  experience  in 
Bolshevist  Russia,  together  with  all  the  other  na- 
tions inhabiting  that  unhappy  territory.  But  the 
hands  of  the  Jewish  masses,  of  all  the  classes  of  the 
Jewish  people,  are  not  stained  with  this  blood. 
We  have  not  heard,  and  we  believe  that  we  shall 

94 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

never  hear,  of  any  act  of  terror  committed  by  any 
masses  of  Jews  led  either  by  Jews  or  by  non-Jews. 

Let  the  Jewish  Bolsheviki  stand  accused  and  con- 
demned of  their  guilt  like  their  compatriots  of  other 
nationalities,  but  there  must  be  no  room  for  generali- 
zation and  wholesale  accusation  when  the  people 
as  a  whole  are  guiltless  and  where  millions,  permeated 
by  a  powerful  cohesive  force  of  an  ancient  culture 
organically  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  violence  and 
vandalism,  stand  apart  from  a  few  individual 
persons. 

Quite  similar  to  the  foregoing  is  a  Mem- 
orandum addressed  by  the  Council  of  the 
Vladivostok  Jewish  Commtmity  to  the  Rus- 
sian people.  The  concluding  paragraphs 
of  this  address  seem  to  me  to  be  a  complete 
and  crushing  refutation  of  the  monstrous 
caliminy  that  is  being  so  assiduously  spread 
among  our  people : 

In  the  present  historic  movement  the  Council  of 
the  Jewish  Community  of  Vladivostok  deems  it  its 
sacred  civil  duty  to  come  forward  with  the  following 
protest.  The  Council  declares  that:  (i)  The  many 
millions  of  the  Russian  Jewry  reject  every  respon- 
sibility for  the  crimes  committed  against  Russia 
by  a  small  group  of  Jewish  renegades  who  have 
nothing  in  common  with  the  Jews  and  have  long 
since  broken  off  all  connections  with   them,  such 

95 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

as  Bronstein-Trotzky,  Nakhamkes-Steklov,  Apfel- 
baum-Zinoviev,  Joffe,  Kamenev,  and  others  con- 
nected with  Bolshevism,  just  as  the  Russian,  Lettish, 
Polish,  Georgian,  Armenian,  and  other  nationalities 
cannot  be  held  to  answer  for  the  deeds  and  misdeeds 
of  Bolshevist  leaders  who  were  born  in  their  midst. 
(2)  The  Russian  Jewry,  as  a  whole,  is  warmly  and 
sincerely  devoted  to  the  interests  of  Russia,  its 
motherland,  and  has  struggled  and  is  still  struggling 
for  the  regeneration  of  the  Russian  state,  and  is 
heartily  interested,  together  with  all  the  other 
peoples  inhabiting  Russia,  in  the  speediest  over- 
throwing of  Bolshevism  and  the  reconstruction  of 
orderly  life  in  Russia.  The  Russian  Jews  have  lost 
over  one  htmdred  thousand  of  their  brothers  and 
sons  in  killed  and  wounded  in  the  war  with  Germany. 
Thousands  of  Jews  are  found  at  present  in  the  ranks 
of  the  armies  of  Admiral  Kolchak  and  of  General 
Denikin.  (3)  Bolshevism  has  ruined  himdreds  of 
thousands  of  Jewish  merchants,  business  men,  ar- 
tisans, and  men  in  various  enterprises,  and  has  com- 
pletely destroyed  the  entire  population  of  the 
Northwestern  Territories.  Thousa-nds  of  Jewish  fam- 
ilies have  been  deported  from  Soviet  Russia  and  are 
now  dragging  out  a  miserable  existence  as  refugees 
in  Siberia,  in  the  Ural  region,  and  in  the  border 
cities. 

The  Soviet  government  has  shot  and  is  still  shooting 
Jewish  public  men,  lawyers,  engineers,  physicians,  and 
workmen  who  have  participated  in  the  struggle  against 
the  Soviet  rule.  In  the  near  future  there  will  be 
published  documents  and  irrefutable  facts  revealing 

96 


BOLSHEVISM  AND  THE  JEWS 

the  number  of  Jewish  lives  and  the  billions  of  Jewish 
wealth  that  have  perished  during  the  past  two  years 
in  the  struggle  with  Bolshevism. 

The  Vladivostok  Jewish  Community  protests  to 
the  Russian  public  opinion  and  to  the  honest  and 
independent  Russian  press  against  the  falsehoods, 
insinuations,  and  calumnies  directed  against  the 
Jewish  people  in  such  profusion  bv  the  enemies  of 
humanity  and  the  state. 

In  view  of  such  facts  as  these,  is  it  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  Bolshevism  is  a  pro- 
Jewish  conspiracy?  Is  it  less  than  ridiculous 
to  suggest  that  the  system  which  has  re- 
duced hundreds  of  thousands  of  Jews  to 
abject  poverty,  broken  up  thousands  of  Jew- 
ish homes  and  families,  confiscated  bilUons 
of  Jewish  wealth,  imprisoned  thousands  of 
prominent  Jews,  and  murdered  numerous 
others,  is  part  of  a  Jewish  conspiracy? 
Surely,  every  intelligent  person  must  see 
that  any  such  conspiracy  must  necessarily 
require,  as  the  first  condition  of  its  success, 
a  degree  of  racial  solidarity  never  yet  at- 
tained by  any  people  at  any  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  That  solidarity  could 
only  be  obtained  by  assuring  to  the  Jews 

97 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

their  complete  exemption  from  the  suffering 
and  oppression  imposed  upon  the  non- 
Jewish  population.  Had  there  been  any- 
thought  of  securing  the  solidarity  of  the 
Jewish  people  of  Russia  against  the  non- 
Jewish  population,  it  would  have  been  effec- 
tively thwarted  by  the  imposition  of  such 
burdens  of  poverty  and  suffering  upon  the 
Jews,  and  their  resulting  resentment.  Not 
the  smallest  particle  of  evidence  has  ever 
yet  been  adduced  to  show  that  the  Jews  in 
Russia  have  been  exempted  from  any  of  the 
oppressive  features  of  Bolshevism.  As  Mr. 
Wells  reminds  us,  the  Bolsheviki  have  sup- 
pressed the  Hebrew  language,  the  historic 
language  of  Judaism,  to  preserve  which  Jews 
in  all  lands  and  during  many  centuries  have 
made  such  vast  sacrifices.  Do  we  need  any 
further  evidence? 


VII 

THE    VICIOUS    ROLE   OF   ANTI-SEMITISM 

PRECISELY  such  propaganda  as  that 
which  the  Dearborn  Independent  has 
been  carrying  on  is  responsible  for  many 
of  the  blackest  and  most  shameful  pages 
in  history.  Wherever  and  whenever  there 
has  been  an  organized  propaganda  of 
anti  -  Semitism  it  has  invariably  been 
closely  intertwined  with  every  other  con- 
temporary reactionary  oppressive  and  con- 
temptible force.  To  those  who  know  the 
history  of  anti-Semitism  in  Russia,  in  Poland, 
and  in  Rumania,  even  in  quite  recent  years, 
this  statement  will  seem  so  trite  as  not  to  re- 
quire any  demonstration.  This  close  associa- 
tion with  other  forms  of  reaction  and  brutal 
oppression  is  not  peculiar  to  anti-Semitism, 
but  is  a  common  characteristic  of  every  form 
of  race  prejudice  and  hatred.     Among  the 

9Q 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Turks  organized  prejudice  and  hatred  of 
Armenians  has  invariably  been  foinid  to  be 
closely  associated  with  all  the  other  evil  forces 
in  the  Turkish  Empire.  In  our  own  coimtry, 
discrimination  against  and  injustice  to  the 
negro  goes  hand  in  hand  with  almost  every 
other  form  of  reaction  and  oppression. 

It  is  quite  useless  to  pretend  that  such 
articles  as  those  published  in  the  Dearborn 
Independent  and  the  London  Morning  Post 
are  not  really  anti-Semitic  propaganda,  but 
merely  a  legitimate  discussion  of  a  great  and 
serious  problem.  Such  specious  pleading 
will  not  deceive  any  intelligent,  honest  per- 
son. The  only  possible  object  of  the  articles 
is  to  convince  the  people  who  read  them  that 
civilized  society  is  threatened  by  a  great 
world-wide  secret  conspiracy  of  the  Jews; 
that  this  virile  and  highly  intelligent  people, 
scattered  throughout  the  civilized  world, 
and  nimibering,  it  is  estimated,  about  six- 
teen millions,  is  secretly  organized  and  led 
by  an  "invisible  government"  composed  of 
some  of  the  ablest  and  keenest  minds  in  the 

lOO 


1 


ANTI-SEMITISM  VICIOUS 

world,  to  the  end  of  bringing  all  the  govern- 
ments of  the  earth,  together  with  all  indus- 
try and  commerce,  under  the  absolute  rule 
and  dominion  of  a  dynasty  to  be  set  up  by 
an  aristocratic  Jewish  Sanhedrin. 

Even  if  we  ignore,  for  the  purpose  of 
this  discussion,  the  fact  that  to  sustain  this 
charge  a  structure  of  cruel  falsehood  has 
been  erected  with  great  cunning,  it  is  surely 
plain  enough  that  the  effect  of  such  a  charge 
upon  the  minds  of  such  non-Jews  as  beHeve 
it  can  only  be  the  development  of  a  spirit 
of  antagonism  toward  Jews,  as  Jews.  In  so 
far  as  the  Dearborn  Independent  succeeds 
in  its  efforts,  it  must  inevitably  make  our 
Gentile  population  regard  their  Jewish 
neighbors  with  fear  and  suspicion.  And 
from  such  fear  and  suspicion  emanate  in- 
tolerance and  hatred  and  their  brutal 
progeny.  There  is  no  essential  difference 
between  the  articles  which  have  been  ap- 
pearing in  Mr.  Ford's  paper,  either  in  spirit 
or  in  text,  and  those  which,  in  a  past  so  re- 
cent that  its  horror  haimts  the  memory  of 

lOI 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

men  and  women  of  our  generation,  let  loose 
upon  tens  of  thousands  of  helpless  and  in- 
offensive people  the  most  bestial  and  fiend- 
ish cruelty  and  hatred  ever  attained  by- 
beings  called  human. 

I  can  quite  well  remember  the  intense 
horror  with  which  the  Christian  world  read 
of  the  wave  of  pogroms  against  the  Jews 
which  swept  over  Russia  in  1891,  following 
the  inhimian  enforcement  of  the  ''May- 
Laws."  Jewish  women  in  travail,  forced  to 
flee  for  their  lives,  hid  in  cemeteries,  and  in 
those  "cities  of  the  dead"  brought  forth 
their  babes.  Jewish  fathers  took  their 
daughters  to  brothels  for  safe  hiding.  Jew- 
ish women  and  girls  were  raped.  Jewish 
homes  were  looted,  and  whole  villages  in- 
habited by  Jews  were  burned  down.  Even 
women  and  children  were  brutally  mur- 
dered, simply  because  they  were  Jews  and 
because  a  newspaper  propaganda  in  all  re- 
spects like  that  now  being  carried  on  in  this 
country  and  in  England  had  made  the 
Jewish  people  the  object  of  suspicion  and 

102 


ANTI-SEMITISM  VICIOUS 

fear  and,  therefore,  of  hatred.  It  was  then 
that  a  Russian  statesman  declared  that  the 
"Jewish  question"  would  be  solved  only 
when  one  third  of  the  Jews  had  perished, 
another  third  emigrated,  and  the  remaining 
third  been  converted  to  the  orthodox 
Church ! 

The  frightful  massacre  of  Jews  at  Kish- 
inev in  1903  likewise  resulted  from  a  news- 
paper propaganda  very  similar  to  that 
which  is  now  being  carried  on  by  the  Dear- 
born Independent  and  the  London  Morning 
Post.  On  that  occasion  an  unexampled  and 
unprecedented  outburst  of  horror  thrilled 
the  whole  civilized  world.  John  Hay,  our 
then  Secretary  of  State,  said:  "No  person 
of  ordinary  humanity  can  have  heard  with- 
out deep  emotion  the  story  of  the  cruel 
outrages  inflicted  upon  the  Jews  of  Kishinev. 
These  lamentable  events  have  caused  the 
profoundest  impression  throughout  the 
world."  President  Roosevelt  said,  "I  have 
never  in  my  experience  in  this  country 
known  of  a  more  immediate  or  a  deeper 

8  103 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

expression  of  the  sympathy  for  the  victims 
and  of  horror  over  the  appalling  calamity 
that  has  occurred." 

The  Kishinev  outrages  were  the  direct  and 
logical  outcome  of  the  campaign  of  calumny 
and  hatred  against  the  Jews  waged  by  the 
local  newspaper,  the  Bessarabetz,  owned  and 
edited  by  a  Moldavian  named  Kroushevan. 
Except  for  the  specific  charge  of  "ritual 
murder,"  with  which  I  shall  presently  deal, 
the  campaign  of  Jew-baiting  pursued  by 
this  journal,  which  produced  such  disastrous 
and  monstrous  results,  was  the  counterpart 
of  that  now  being  carried  on  by  the  Dear- 
born Independent.  Kroushevan  charged 
that  the  Jews  were  conspiring  to  secure 
world  dominion;  he  charged  that  tlie 
economic  power  of  the  Jewish  race  in  Russia 
was  a  peril  to  the  nation;  he  charged  that 
Jews  were  responsible  for  Socialism  and 
social  unrest.  The  anti-Semitic  articles  ap- 
pearing in  this  coimtry  and  in  England  dur- 
ing the  past  few  weeks  are  quite  like  those 

which  used  to  appear  in  the  Bessarabetz. 
104 


ANTI-SEMITISM  VICIOUS 

Of  coiirse,  the  crowning  infamy  of  the 
campaign  of  hate  waged  by  the  Kishinev 
paper  was  the  charge  of  "ritual  murder." 
A  Christian  boy,  named  Ribalenko,  belong- 
ing to  the  village  of  Doubossar,  midway 
between  Kishinev  and  Odessa,  was  mur- 
dered, his  body  being  found  in  an  orchard. 
The  Bessarahetz  at  once  declared  that  the 
boy  had  been  killed  by  the  Jews  for  sacri- 
ficial purposes,  thus  reviving  one  of  the 
most  terrible  and  most  infamous  libels  ever 
directed  against  any  race  or  sect — a  caliminy 
that  has  been  exposed  and  refuted  again 
and  again.  Subsequently,  after  the  mis- 
chief had  been  done,  it  was  proved  that  the 
hoy  was  murdered  by  his  uncle  arul  the  care- 
taker of  the  orchard  in  which  the  body  was 
found — both  of  them  Russians  and  Gentiles. 
The  murderers  confessed  their  guilt,  the 
motive  for  the  crime  being  gain. 

The  horrors  of  1891  were  repeated  and 
even  excelled  at  Kishinev  in  1903  as  a  result 
of  this  propaganda.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go 
into  the  gruesome  details  of  the  numerous 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

nameless  sex  mutilations,  the  awful  out- 
rages committed  upon  young  girls  and  their 
gray-haired  grandmothers,  the  shockingly 
brutal  and  bestial  murders,  the  well-authen- 
ticated cases  of  nails  driven  through  the 
eyes  of  a  woman  and  the  cutting  out  of  the 
tongue  of  a  two-year-old  child;  let  these 
brief  references  suffice.  It  is  all  too  evident 
from  the  most  reliable  accounts  of  the  mas- 
sacre that  hatred  bom  of  resentment  and 
fear  had  made  the  Gentile  mobs  as  savage  as 
wild  beasts.    They  were  no  longer  human. 

Thus  far  neither  the  Dearborn  Indepen- 
dent nor  the  London  Morning  Post  has  re- 
produced the  "ritual  murder"  lie.  Perhaps 
neither  will  do  it.  Probably  not.  At  the 
same  time,  both  papers  have  done  their  utmost 
to  create  in  the  minds  of  their  readers  a  readi- 
ness to  believe  that  or  any  other  infamy  when 
attributed  to  the  Jews.  There  is  not,  and  there 
cannot  be,  any  assurance  that  in  the  soil 
thus  prepared  by  these  papers,  others  more 
ignorant  or  less  scrupulous  will  not  success- 
fully plant  belief  in  the  ancient  legend  of 
io6 


ANTI-SEMITISM  VICIOUS 

sacrificial  murders  committed  by  Jews.  And 
even  if  this  never  happens  at  all,  the  fact 
remains  that  in  charging  that  the  horrors  of 
Bolshevism  were  deliberately  instigated  by 
Jews,  British  and  American  anti-Semites 
have  appealed  to  the  same  unreasoning,  in- 
stinctive, primal  passion.  For  Bolshevism, 
primarily  a  political  and  economic  program 
though  it  be,  impinges  upon  religious  faith 
and  religious  authority.  Thus  do  the  anti- 
Semites  play  with  fire  in  close  proximity  to 
the  high  explosives  of  human  nature. 

It  was  not  the  ancient,  insensate  hatred 
,  inspired  by  belief  that  the  Jews  kill  Christian 
children  in  their  Paschal  rites  which  made 
the  Kishinev  pogrom  possible.  That  added 
the  element  of  savage  fanaticism  to  the 
antagonism  and  resentment  already  devel- 
oped by  the  economic  position  of  the  Jews. 
The  extortions  practiced  by  Jewish  money- 
lenders ;  the  superior  business  capacity,  per- 
severance, and  resourcefulness  of  the  Jewish 
traders  and  shopkeepers  as  compared  with 
their  Gentile  rivals ;  the  intense  competition 
107 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

of  Jewish  artisans,  superior  to  the  average 
Russian  workman  in  intelligence,  industry, 
thrift,  sobriety,  and  ambition — all  these 
things  restilted  in  bitter  antagonism.  Upon 
that  economic  fear  and  resentment  religious 
fanaticism  fastened  and  flourished. 

Herein  lies  the  danger  of  the  anti-Semitic 
propaganda  in  this  country  and  in  England. 
It  is  invoking  economic  fear  and  resent- 
ment, i  The  non-Jew  is  adjiu-ed  to  contem- 
plate the  spectacle  of  the  Jews  oustifig  the 
Gentiles  from  one  industry  after  another, 
gradually  asstmiing  leadership  and  control 
of  our  industry  and  commerce,  thanks  in 
part  to  superior  intelligence,  skill,  and  dili- 
gence, but  in  part  also  to  a  lack  of  moral 
scrupulousness.  So  the  Jew  is  presented  as 
a  dangerous  economic  rival  to  be  feared  and 
guarded  against.  The  Gentile  is  thus  taught 
to  look  upon  Jewish  prosperity  as  a  sort  of 
parasitism,  and  as  a  menace  to  the  well- 
being  of  all  non-Jews,  even  where  the  with- 
drawal of  Jewish  enterprise  and  activity 
would  mean  ruin  for  Jew  and  Gentile  alike — 
108 


I 


ANTI-SEMITISM  VICIOUS 

a  condition  long  recognized  in  the  principal 
Russian  cities.  Now,  I  do  not  deny  that 
some  of  the  worst  aspects  of  capitalism  have 
been  developed  to  a  special  and  notable 
extent  by  some  Jews.  Neither  do  I  forget 
that  others  have  developed  the  very  noblest 
social  idealism.  The  point  I  am  now  making 
is  that  hatred  of  the  Jew,  even  when  it  is 
motivated  by  economic  fear  and  resentment, 
will  inevitably  ntirture  every  other  form  of 
anti- Jewish  prejudice.  If  the  campaign  of 
the  anti-Semites  succeeds  in  cultivating  that 
fear  and  hatred  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
our  people,  there  can  be  no  assurance 
against  the  occurrence  of  pogroms  here. 


VIII 

WHAT    ANTI-SEMITISM    IN    AMERICA    MEANS 

IN  an  article  published  in  the  Dearborn 
Independent,  June  19,  1920,  it  is  argued 
that,  transplanted  in  American  soil,  anti- 
Semitism  will  change  its  character  and  that 
it  will  not,  in  this  coimtry,  take  the  form 
of  mass  violence.  Not  a  single  fact  or  his- 
torical example  is  cited  in  support  of  this 
optimistic  theory.  There  are  fine  phrases 
about  "the  genius  of  Americanism"  and  the 
"innate  justice  of  the  American  mind,"  but 
that  is  all.  And  these  fine  phrases  can  be 
easily  and  adequately  disposed  of  by  the 
simple  observation  that  anti-Semitism,  like 
all  other  forms  of  race  hatred,  is  incompati- 
ble with  "the  genius  of  Americanism"  and 
with  "innate  justice." 

These   seem   to   me   to   be   self-evident 
1:0 


ANTI-SEMITISM  IN  AMERICA 

truths.  Nevertheless,  we  have  had  many  , 
bitter  manifestations  of  race  hatred  in  this  ' 
country,  not  a  few  of  which  have  been  ^ 
attended  by  mass  violence.  When  I  reflect 
upon  the  savage  race  riots  which  have  oc- 
curred in  this  coimtry,  and  the  numerous 
lynchings  of  negroes  by  infuriated  mobs,  I 
cannot  bring  myself  to  accept  the  easy 
optimism  of  the  anonymous  Jew-baiter. 
Even  as  I  am  writing  these  lines  the  morn- 
ing newspaper  comes  to  hand  with  the  ac- 
coimt  of  the  lynching  of  three  negroes, 
one  of  them  a  woman,  in  Georgia.  The 
story  is  quite  familiar  in  its  shocking  details. 
The  three  negroes,  who  were  charged  with 
murder,  were  in  the  custody  of  the  sheriff 
of  the  county,  when  they  were  seized  by  a 
mob  and  brutally  murdered.  That  this 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  negroes, 
a  manifestation  of  race  hatred,  is  beyond 
question. 

My  faith  that  we  shall  be  spared  the 
shame  and  ignominy  of  pogroms  rests  upon 

other  and,  I  believe,  more  solid  foimdations. 
Ill 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

I  have  confidence  that  the  anti-Semitic 
propaganda  will  be  met  by  the  stout  re- 
sistance of  the  great  mass  of  our  citizens  of 
Gentile  birth  and  heritage  who  will  fight 
and  crush  anti-Semitism  in  defense  of  Chris- 
tian civilization  and  of  American  ideals, 
traditions,  and  institutions.  That  seems  to 
me  to  be  a  rational  faith;  it  affords  firm 
anchorage.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a 
stupendous  and  dangerous  folly  to  believe 
that  you  can  cultivate,  as  part  of  our  na- 
tional psychology,  anti- Jewish  fear  and 
prejudice  without  reaping  in  due  course  a 
harvest  of  hatred  and  violence  toward  the 
Jewish  people.  Racial  hatred  is  everywhere 
the  same. 

There  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  here 
in  the  United  States  we  possess  a  special 
immunity  from  the  worst  forms  of  anti- 
Semitism.  It  would  probably  be  safer  to 
say  that  our  conditions  afford  exceptional 
opportunities  for  their  development.  We 
have  drawn  heavily  upon  the  Old  World  for 
our  population,  which  reflects  the  divisions 

112 


ANTI-SEMITISM   IN  AMERICA 

and  the  antipathies,  the  hereditary  jeal- 
ousies and  suspicions,  which  for  hundreds 
and,  in  some  instances,  thousands  of  years 
have  troubled  mankind.  We  have  not  yet 
welded  these  diverse  elements  into  any- 
thing approaching  homogeneity;  our  na- 
tional consciousness  is  still  undeveloped  and, 
as  a  consequence  of  that  fact,  we  have  as 
yet  not  developed  fully  those  self-imposed 
disciplines  and  restraints  which  are  at- 
tendant upon  highly  developed  national 
solidarity.  Our  national  life,  with  its  alien 
masses  only  partially  assimilated,  is  as  sus- 
ceptible to  inflaming  passion  as  the  wind- 
blown dry  autumn  leaves  are  susceptible  to 
the  flame  of  the  torch. 

Michael  Davitt  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  in  the  Kishinev  pogrom  it  was  not 
the  rich  Jews  who  were  the  victims,  but 
Jewish  workingmen  and  their  families. 
That,  I  believe,  is  the  universal  experience. 
The  rich  Jews  can  buy  immimity  or  pro- 
tection. If  as  a  result  of  vicious  propaganda 
serious  anti- Jewish  riots  take  place  in  this 

"3 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

coiintry  the  victims  will  not  be  the  rich 
Jewish  financiers  and  brokers,  against  whom 
the  Dearborn  Independent  fulminates,  but 
innocent  and  inoffensive,  hard-working  men 
and  women  and  their  children.  And  if  ever 
that  time  comes  such  men  as  Henry  Ford 
must  bear  the  major  responsibility  and 
gtiilt. 

Let  us  suppose,  for  the  argument's  sake, 
that  anti-Semitism  in  this  coimtry  develops, 
as  predicted  in  Mr.  Ford's  paper,  along  less 
brutal  lines ;  that  there  will  be  no  such  orgies 
of  mtirder  and  lust  and  spoliation  as  some 
other  nations  have  had  to  their  shame  and 
dishonor.  In  that  case,  how  will  the  organ- 
ized hostility  to  the  Jews  be  manifested? 
Y  Specifically,  what  is  the  program  of  the 
group  of  anti-Semites  in  this  coimtry  with 
which  the  Dearborn  Independent  is  identi- 
fied? Are  they  prepared  to  annoimce  that 
program,  and  to  have  it  measured  by  the 
standard  of  the  American  ideal?  Or  is  it 
^  possible  that  the  only  "secret  conspiracy" 
is  on  their  side;  that  the  real  object  of  this 
114 


ANTI-SEMITISM   IN  AMERICA 

anti-Semitic  agitation  is  to  prepare  the  way 
for  a  political  and  economic  program  which 
its  authors  dare  not  publicly  avow? 

When  I  was  in  England  recently/  I  gained 
a  fairly  clear  and  reliable  idea  of  the  political 
and  economic  program  of  those  bitter  Jew- 
haters  who  are  responsible  for  the  organized 
campaign  of  anti-Semitism  in  that  country. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  our  anti-Semites, 
including  the  Dearborn  Independent ,  have 
so  slavishly  copied  the  propaganda  of  the 
British  anti-Semites,  it  is  justifiable  to 
assume  that  they  are  in  general  agreement 
with  that  program,  and  that  they  would 
adopt  it  in  this  coimtry,  subject  to  whatever 
modifications  may  be  made  necessary  by 
the  differences  between  the  institutions  of 
the  two  coimtries.  At  all  events,  tmless  and 
until  the  actual  program  of  the  anti-Semites 
of  this  coimtry  is  set  forth  with  candor  and 
precision,  they  have  no  cause  for  complaint 
if  it  is  asstmied  that  their  aims  are  prac- 
tically identical  with  those  of  the  British 

1  September  and  October,  1920. 
IIS 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

anti- Jewish  propagandists  whose  arguments 
they  repeat  in  detail,  including  every  gro- 
tesque stupidity  and  every  clumsy  distor- 
tion of  the  truth. 

The  program  of  the  British  anti-Semites, 
adapted  to  American  conditions,  would 
involve,  as  a  minimum,  the  following 
measures: 

1.  Disfranchisement  of  all  Jews  whose 
parents  and  grandparents  were  not  all 
native-bom  American  citizens. 

2.  Denial  of  the  right  to  hold  legislative 
or  administrative  office,  either  elective  or 
appointive,  to  all  Jews  other  than  those 
whose  parents  and  grandparents  were  all 
bom  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Denial  of  the  right  of  naturalization 
to  Jews  on  the  grotmd  that  they  are  not 
assimilable. 

4.  Prohibition  or  very  strict  limitation  of 
further  Jewish  immigration. 

5.  Exclusion  from  the  legal,  medical,  and 
teaching  professions  of  all  Jews  except  those 
entitled  to  full  citizenship.    (See  i  and  2.) 

ii6 


ANTI-SEMITISM  IN  AMERICA 

6.  Exclusion  of  all  Jews,  except  those  en- 
titled to  full  citizenship,  from  certain  eco- 
nomic rights  and  privileges,  including  the 
right  to  acquire  and  own  land,  the  right  to 
engage  in  the  sale  of  stocks,  bonds,  securi- 
ties, or  real  estate,  or  in  banking,  money- 
lending,  or  insurance. 

7.  The  right  of  admission  to  colleges  and 
imiversities  to  be  so  limited  as  to  admit  only 
a  small  percentage  of  Jewish  students. 

That  this  outline  of  a  program  will  seem 
to  many  to  be  simply  a  fantastic  jest  I  am 
quite  well  aware.  The  fact  remains,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  simply  a  bald  presentation  of 
the  program  beHeved  in  by  a  great  many 
anti-Semites.  I  have  only  taken  the  meas- 
ures that  are  seriously  urged  for  adoption 
in  England  and  changed  their  wording  to 
correspond  to  American  conditions.  There 
is  not  one  item  in  the  program  which  I  did 
not  hear  advocated  with  evident  seriousness 
when  I  was  in  England.  I  learned  of  one 
society  organized  upon  a  national  scale,  all 
of  whose  members  must  **  prove  that  their 
117 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

parents  and  grandparents  were  of  British 
bloodo''''  This  society  is  very  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  spread  of  anti-Semitic  propa- 
ganda. Its  prospectus  states  that  it  was 
"Founded  to  secure  the  re-enactment  of 
the  Act  of  Settlement,  1700,  1701,  which 
secured  the  government  of  Britain  to  Britons 
and  the  land  of  Britain  to  the  ownership  of 
Britons." 

The  point  of  the  demand  for  the  re- 
enactment  of  the  Act  of  Settlement  lies  in 
the  fact  that  one  of  the  clauses  in  that  his- 
toric instrument  provides  that,  "no  person 
bom  out  of  the  kingdoms  of  England,  Scot- 
land, or  Ireland,  or  the  dominions  thereunto 
belonging  (although  he  be  naturalized  or  made 
a  denizen),  except  such  as  were  bom  of 
English  parents,  slmll  he  capable  to  be  of  the 
Privy  Cotmcil,  or  a  member  of  either  House 
of  Parliament,  or  enjoy  any  office  or  place  of 
trust,  either  civil  or  military.''  It  is  also 
stipulated  that  no  such  person  shall  be 
capable  "to  have  any  grant  of  lands,  tene- 
ments, or  hereditaments  from  the  Crown  to 
118 


ANTI-SEMITISM  IN  AMERICA 

himself,  or  to  any  other  or  others  in  trust 
for  him."  In  the  light  of  the  constitution 
of  this  British  society  with  its  large  dues- 
paying  membership,  and  its  demand  for  the 
re-enactment  of  the  above-quoted  provisions 
of  the  Act  of  Settlement,  the  most  drastic 
parts  of  the  suggested  program  do  not  seem 
so  fantastic,  after  all. 

Here,  then,  is  a  program  of  anti-Semitism 
which  fairly  expresses  the  political  and 
economic  aspirations  of  large  groups  with 
whom  our  American  anti-Semites,  led  by 
the  Dearborn  hidependent,  appear  to  be 
working  in  close  co-operation  and  harmony. 
Whether  the  program  fully  meets  with  their 
approval  or  not,  it  can  hardly  be  questioned 
that,  if  their  anti- Jewish  agitation  is  to  have 
the  result  of  bringing  about  political  and 
economic  remedies  for  the  conditions  they 
assail,  and  not  pogroms,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  discriminate  between  Jews  and  Gentiles 
in  citizenship,  in  education,  in  property 
rights,  and  in  economic  opportunity.  Pre- 
cisely how  these  discriminations  are  to  be 
9  119 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

made  may  be  open  to  doubt,  but  that  they 
must  be  made  is — once  the  anti-Semitic 
position  is  taken — ^beyond  all  doubt. 

Against  that  reactionary  aim  I  set  the 
American  ideal,  or  what  President  Roose- 
velt called  "the  historic  American  position 
of  treating  each  man  on  his  merits  as  a 
man,  without  the  least  reference  to  his 
creed,  his  race,  or  his  birthplace."  Anti- 
Semitism  would  divide  oiu:  citizenship  by 
racial  and  reHgious  barriers ;  the  American- 
ism of  Washington  and  Lincoln  and  Lee 
and  Roosevelt  would  weld  all  into  a  united 
whole,  regardless  of  race  or  reHgion.  The 
way  of  the  anti-Semite  is  the  way  of  Russia 
under  the  tsars,  the  way  of  the  imspeakable 
despots  who  for  centuries  made  the  word 
"Turk"  a  synonym  for  oppression  and 
brutal  reaction.  I  prefer  the  American 
way.  I  am  opposed  to  anti-Semitism,  not 
alone  for  humanitarian  reasons,  but  as  a 
matter  of  loyalty  to  America.  Anti-Semi- 
tism is  treason  to  the  American  ideal. 


IX 


WE  NEED  THE  CO-OFERATION  OF  CHRISTIAN 
AND   JEW 

THE  greatest  nations  of  the  world  are 
just  emerging  from  the  strain  and  agony 
of  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  war  in 
the  history'  of  mankind.  From  a  tiny  spark 
of  hatred  a  great  conflagration  of  passion 
spread  over  the  world,  well-nigh  destroying 
the  entire  fabric  of  civilization.  How  near 
we  have  come  to  that  catastrophe,  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  war  and  its  evil  progeny,  they 
best  know  who  have  recently  visited  the 
countries  principally  involved  and  most 
vitally  affected.  Even  now  civilization  is 
not  out  of  danger,  but  is  weak  and  unsteady 
like  a  man  beginning  to  recover  from  a 
terrible  fever.  Infinite  care  and  patience 
and  wisdom  must  be  exercised  by  statesmen 

121 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

and  peoples  and  by  the  molders  of  public 
opinion  in  every  nation  in  order  to  make 
recovery  possible. 

Never  was  there  a  moment  when  racial  or 
religious  antagonism  was  as  dangerous  and 
so  much  to  be  feared  as  in  this  crisis.  Never 
were  the  citizens  of  all  lands  so  solemnly 
warned  to  avoid  the  poison  of  hatred.  The 
passionate  hatreds  engendered  by  the  war 
must  be  crushed  down  and  they  who  were 
foes,  seeking  to  destroy  one  another,  must 
now  work  together  for  the  preservation  of 
the  civilization  that  is  their  common  herit- 
age. With  the  carnage  and  wrack  and  ruin 
of  the  war  still  oppressing  us,  and  our  hearts 
still  lacerated  and  bruised,  a  common  peril 
is  compelling  us  to  unite  and  to  seek  safety 
in  fellowship  and  co-operation.  Yesterday 
we  relied  upon  the  destructive  arts  of  the 
warrior ;  to-day  we  must  rely  upon  the  con- 
serving arts  of  the  healer.  Yesterday  we 
hailed  Mars;  to-day  we  hail  the  Christ  in 
whose  touch  is  life  and  healing. 

What  perverse  and  malevolent  genius  it 

122 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

must  be  that  chooses  this  moment  to  open 
the  flood  gates  and  set  free  the  pent  pas- 
sions of  anti-Semitism!  How  monstrous  a 
thing  it  is  that  from  a  great  historic  pulpit 
of  the  Christian  Church  which  Beecher 
glorified  by  his  courageous  idealism,  the 
brutal  and  un-Christian  appeals  of  anti- 
Semitism  should  be  made  now  when  the 
world  needs,  above  all  things,  to  be  purged 
of  the  poison  of  hatred  and  strengthened  by 
fellowship!  How  great  a  tragedy  it  is  that 
men  like  Mr.  Ford  and  his  associates  can 
find  nothing  to  inspire  them  in  the  vast 
work  of  restoration  and  reconstruction ;  that 
their  energies  and  resources  are  directed  to 
the  ignoble  and  dangerous  end  of  inciting  in 
the  minds  of  millions  of  our  people  fear  and 
hatred  of  the  Jew,  as  Jew ! 

I  am  not  insensible  of,  or  indifferent  to, 
the  problems  incidental  to  the  presence  in 
this  coimtry  of  more  than  three  million 
Jews.  Neither  am  I  insensible  of,  or  indif- 
ferent to,  the  problems  incidental  to  our 

vast  negro  population,  or  to  the  presence  of 
123 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Europeans  and  their  slow  and  imperfect 
assimilation.  Recognizing  these  problems 
clearly  and  fully,  I  am  quite  certain  that 
racial  hatred  and  antagonism  is  no  solvent 
for  any  one  of  them.  The  complete  success 
of  the  appeals  that  are  being  made  against 
the  Jews  would  not  benefit  the  Gentiles  in 
this  country  in  any  particular.  There  never 
has  been  an  organized  propaganda  of  race 
antagonism  and  hatred,  anywhere  in  the 
world,  which  benefited  either  race.  In 
Russia  and  in  Rumania — ^to  cite  only  two 
examples — anti-Semitism  has  injured  the 
Christians  fully  as  much  as  it  has  injured 
the  Jews.  Turkish  hatred  and  persecution  of 
Armenians  has  invariably  injured  the  Turks 
quite  as  much  as  it  has  injiu'ed  their  vic- 
tims. In  opposing  the  propaganda  of  anti- 
Semitism  I  am  defending  equally  the  inter- 
est of  Jew  and  non-Jew.  I  hold  no  brief  for 
the  Jewish  ''race,"  so-called,  or  for  Judaism. 
The  only  brief  I  hold  is  for  the  democratic 
and  humanitarian  ideals  of  America.  That 
brief  I  hold  by  reason  of  my  citizenship, 
124 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

voluntarily  assumed,  and  the  freeman's 
oath  with  which  that  citizenship  was  con- 
secrated. 

The  solution  of  the  problems  arising  out 
of  the  massing  of  so  many  Jewish  people  in 
our  large  cities  requires  the  unity  and  co- 
operation of  all  men  and  women  of  good 
will,  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  in  precisely 
the  same  way,  and  for  precisely  the  same 
reasons,  as  the  solution  of  all  our  other 
problems  does.  There  is  nothing  in  our 
history  which  justifies  the  fear  that  our 
citizens  of  Jewish  birth  will  be  less  ready 
than  their  Christian  neighbors  to  give  their 
whole-hearted  service  to  that  end.  There 
never  has  been  a  call  for  service  to  this 
nation  which  foimd  the  Jewish  citizens  less 
patriotic,  less  willing  to  serve  the  nation, 
and  even  to  sacrifice  for  it,  than  other  sec- 
tions of  our  citizenry.  From  Valley  Forge 
to  Chateau-Thierry  that  record  is  written. 
I  remember  well  that  memorable  day  in 
July,  1 91 8,  when  I  heard  from  the  lips  of 
M.  Clemenceau  the  news,  just  received  by 
125 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

him,  that  our  American  soldiers  were  vic- 
torious at  Chateau-Thierry.  Later,  on  the 
way  to  Chateau-Thierry,  I  passed  the  long 
lines  of  ambulances  bearing  away  the 
wounded  men,  many  of  whom  were  beyond 
all  hope  of  recovery.  Then,  still  later,  in 
the  great,  wonderful  hospital  at  Neuilly,  I 
talked  with  many  of  those  who  fell  wounded 
in  that  terrible  fight.  There  were  Jews  as 
well  as  Gentiles  among  those  men,  but  there 
was  no  difference  in  the  quality  of  their 
Americanism,  in  their  patriotism,  their^- for- 
titude, or  their  courage. 

President  Roosevelt,  who  was  too  decent 
as  a  man  and  too  loyal  as  an  American 
citizen  to  have  any  tolerance  for  anti- 
Semitism,  more  than  once  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  citizens  of  Jewish  ancestry 
and  faith  have,  in  every  crisis  in  the  history 
of  the  nation  which  has  shown  justice  to 
them,  repaid  the  nation  with  loyal  service. 
In  an  address  to  the  B'nai  B'raith,  Jime  15, 
1905,  delivered  at  the  White  House,  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  said: 

126 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

"One  of  the  most  touching  poems  of  our 
own  great  poet,  Longfellow,  is  that  on  the 
Jewish  cemetery  in  Newport,  and  anyone 
who  goes  through  any  of  the  old  cemeteries 
of  the  cities  which  preserve  the  records  of 
Colonial  times  will  see  the  name  of  many 
an  American  of  the  Jewish  race  who,  in 
war  or  in  peace,  did  his  full  share  in  the 
foimding  of  this  nation.  From  that  day 
to  this,  from  the  day  when  the  Jews  of 
•Charleston,  of  Philadelphia,  of  New  York, 
supported  the  patriot  cause  and  helped  in 
every  way,  not  only  by  money,  but  by  arms, 
Washington  and  his  colleagues,  who  were 
founding  this  Republic — ^from  that  day  to 
the  present  we  have  had  no  struggle,  mili- 
tary or  civil,  in  which  there  have  not  been 
citizens  of  Jewish  faith  who  played  an 
eminent  part  for  the  honor  and  credit  of 
the  nation." 

There  is  no  movement  for  the  advance- 
ment of  humanitarian  ideals  in  this  country 
to  which  American  citizens  of  Jewish  an- 
cestry and  faith  have  not  contributed  their 
127 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

full  share.  It  is  impossible  for  any  fair- 
minded  man  who  knows  the  facts  to  read 
without  indignation  the  article  published  in 
the  Dearborn  Independent,  June  5,  1920. 
In  addition  to  charging  that  "Jewish  busi- 
ness methods"  are  responsible  for  the  high 
prices  which  have  obtained  for  so  long,  the 
article  accuses  Jewish  employers  of  being 
responsible  for  conditions  of  employment 
not  known  to  the  Gentile  world.  Lest  I  be 
accused  of  misrepresenting  the  writer  of 
this  libel,  I  will  quote  his  exact  words: 

When  the  susceptible  people  of  the  nation  com- 
miserated the  poor  Jews  of  the  New  York  sweat- 
shops they,  for  the  most  part,  did  not  know  that  the 
inventors  and  operators  of  the  "sweatshop"  method 
were  themselves  Jews.  Indeed,  while  it  is  the  boast 
of  otir  country  that  no  race  or  color  or  creed  is 
persecuted  here,  but  liberty  is  insured  to  all,  still 
it  is  a  fact  that  the  only  heartless  treatment  ever 
accorded  the  Jew  in  the  United  States  came  from 
his  own  people,  his  overseers  and  masters.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  The  record  of  the  great  Jews  in  charity  is 
very  noble;  their  record  in  indtistrial  reforms  is  nil. 
With  commendable  sympathy  toward  their  own 
people  they  will  donate  a  part  of  their  profits  to 
rectify  some  of  the  human  need  resulting  from  the 

128 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

method  by  which  they  made  their  profits,  but  as  for 
reforming  the  method  by  which  they  get  their 
profits  in  order  that  the  resulting  need  might  be 
diminished  or  prevented,  apparently  it  has  never 
occurred  to  them.  At  least,  while  there  are  many 
charitable  names  amxyng  the  wealthier  Jews,  there  are 
no  names  that  stand  for  an  actual,  practical  humanizing 
of  industry,  its  methods  and  its  returns. 

1  respectfully  suggest  that  these  state- 
ments are  intended  to  convey  to  the  mind 
of  the  reader  two  impressions,  neither  of 
which  corresponds  to  reality.  The  first 
impression  is  that  Jewish  employers  have 
been  and  are  more  brutal  and  merciless  than 
Gentile  employers.  Now,  it  is  a  fact  that 
the  "sweatshop,"  using  that  term  in  its 
strictest,  technical  sense,  developed,  in  this 
country,  after  1885 — that  is  to  say,  following 
the  great  influx  of  Polish  and  Russian  Jews 
and  the  equally  great  increase  in  the  manu- 
factiu'e  of  ready-made  clothing.  But,  while 
this  is  technically  true  of  sweating,  we  had 
in  this  country  long  before  the  Jews  came 
children's  and  women's  labor  under  terrible 
conditions.  In  1884  young  girls  and  women 
i2g 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

worked  in  the  factories  of  New  Hampshire 
from  five  in  the  morning  until  seven  at 
night,  with  only  forty-five  minutes'  inter- 
mission, and  their  wages  ranged  from  a 
dollar  and  a  quarter  to  two  dollars  per 
week.  Until  quite  recently,  in  our  Southern 
cotton  mills,  owned  and  operated  by  Gen- 
tiles, we  maintained  conditions  as  bad  as 
ever  existed  in  the  sweatshops  of  our  large 
cities.  It  does  not  require  any  great  amount 
of  research  to  prove  that  Gentile  employers 
have  in  the  past  been  just  as  indifferent  to 
the  well-being  of  their  employees,  just  as 
reactionary,  and  just  as  opposed  to  reform, 
as  Jewish  employers.  I  would  remind  the 
reader,  in  this  connection,  that  we  have 
never  had  in  this  coimtry,  not  even  in  the 
sweatshops  owned  and  controlled  by  Jews, 
anything  approaching  the  terrible  condi- 
tions which  obtained  in  English  factories  in 
the  early  days  of  the  factory  system,  when, 
in  factories  owned  by  Christians,  little 
children,  mere  babies  in  fact,  were  made  to 
work  under  conditions  of  revolting  cruelty, 
130 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

whipped  by  brutal  overseers,  and  not  in- 
frequently driven  literally  to  death  from 
exhaustion.  Thus  did  Christian  employers 
treat  Christian  children. 

But,  while  it  is  true  that  in  our  great 
cities  sweatshops  principally  developed  un- 
der Jewish  auspices,  it  is  equally  true  that 
in  the  fight  to  abolish  sweating  Jews  have 
taken  an  active  and  honorable  part.  This 
I  know  of  a  certainty,  and  the  insinuations 
to  the  contrary  contained  in  the  article 
under  discussion  are  as  cruelly  unfair  and 
unjust  as  they  are  untrue.  So,  too,  in  the 
fight  against  child  labor  in  the  cities  and 
factories  of  the  North.  It  was  my  privilege 
to  take  part  in  that  fight,  and  I  know  that 
in  the  very  forefront  of  the  long  struggle  for 
remedial  legislation,  helping  with  money 
and  with  personal  service,  side  by  side  with 
Christians,  were  many  men  and  women  of 
Jewish  ancestry  and  faith.  I  know,  too, 
that  fighting  on  the  other  side  were  both 
Christians  and  Jews.  It  is  preposterous 
that  any  attempt  should  be  made  to  so 


III 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

misrepresent  the  struggle  for  ''the  practical 
humanizing  of  industry"  as  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  the  Jewish  people  in  particular 
were  either  hostile  or  indifferent  to  it. 
p/  The  second  impression  which  the  article 
is  intended  to  convey  is  that  in  those  in- 
dustries which  are  controlled  by  Jews  no 
such  attempts  have  been  made  to  better 
the  lot  of  the  workers  employed  in  them  as 
have  been  made  in  those  industries  which 
are  controlled  by  non-Jews.  This  charge, 
likewise,  is  wholly  baseless,  as  anybody 
who  desires  to  know  the  truth  can  readily 
ascertain.  It  was  my  good  fortune  and 
privilege,  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
public  appointed  by  President  Wilson,  to 
serve  as  a  member  of  the  First  Industrial 
Conference  convoked  by  the  President  in 
October,  1919.  Among  the  members  of 
that  Conference  chosen  to  represent  the 
public  were  both  Christians  and  Jews,  and 
I  venture  to  say  that  there  was  not  one  of 
the  former  who  for  a  single  moment  doubted 
the  sincerity,  the  patriotism,  or  the  hu- 
132 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

manitarianism  of  the  Jewish  members. 
Moreover,  in  the  course  of  our  work  there 
was  brought  to  our  attention  an  astonish- 
ing amount  of  information  concerning  ef- 
forts being  made  by  progressive  and  high- 
minded  employers  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
to  introduce  into  their  industries  reforms 
looking  to  the  betterment  of  the  lot  of  their 
employees,  including  profit-sharing  and  par- 
ticipation in  shop  management  and  control 
by  the  workers.  It  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  Hteral  truth  that  these  reports 
were  quite  as  favorable  to  the  Jewish  em- 
ployers as  to  their  Christian  competitors. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  ready-made- 
clothing  industry,  which  is  very  largely  in 
the  hands  of  Jews,  many  of  the  most  inter- 
esting experiments  in  industrial  democracy 
and  many  of  the  sincerest  efforts  to  himian- 
ize  industry  are  being  made.  These  things 
are  known  to  every  student  of  the  problem — 
and  they  suffice  to  brand  the  statements  made 
against  the  Jews  in  the  article  imder  discus- 
sion as  both  imtrue  and  studiously  unjust. 
133 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

Not  only  is  it  true  that  in  tne  ever- 
increasing  effort  to  bring  about  "the  prac- 
tical humanizing  of  industry"  no  distinc- 
tion can  honestly  and  justly  be  drawn  be- 
tween Gentile  and  Jewish  employers,  just 
as  no  such  distinction  can  honestly  and 
justly  be  drawn  with  respect  to  the  selfish- 
ness and  ignorance  which  result  in  condi- 
tions that  are  inhuman  and  oppressive;  it 
is  equally  true,  as  a  study  of  the  records  of 
Congress  and  the  legislative  bodies  of  the 
individual  states  will  show  beyond  question, 
that  no  such  distinction  between  Jew  and 
Gentile  can  be  honestly  and  justly  drawn 
with  respect  to  the  mass  of  social  legislation 
enacted  in  recent  years.  Socially  minded 
men  and  women  have  supported  such  legis- 
lation, regardless  of  differences  of  race  and 
creed,  while  men  and  women  who  lacked 
social  consciousness,  who  were  selfish  and 
indifferent  to  the  claims  of  their  fellow 
himian  beings,  have  opposed  such  legisla- 
tion, making  common  cause  regardless  of 
differences  of  race  and  creed. 
134 


CHRISTIAN  AND  JEW  MUST  HELP 

All  this  is  exactly  as  it  should  be,  of 
course,  and  precisely  what  might  be  ex- 
pected to  result  from  our  ideals,  our  in- 
stitutions, and  our  laws.  It  would  be 
tragic  and  disastrous,  indeed,  if  our  experi- 
ence were  otherwise.  The  charges  made 
against  our  Jewish  citizens  by  the  Dearborn 
Independent  amount  in  reality  to  a  terrible 
verdict  of  failure  against  America  and  the 
democratic  ideal  which  America  represents. 
The  only  hope  we  can  have  of  solving  the 
great  problems  which  confront  this  nation 
rests,  and  can  only  rest,  upon  the  assurance 
that  an  enlightened  citizenry,  united  by  love 
of  country  and  of  mankind,  and  undivided 
by  race  or  creed,  will  strive  with  ever- 
increasing  strength,  vision,  and  courage 
toward  the  goal  of  equality  of  opportunity 
for  all.  Thus  only  shall  this  nation  which 
we  love  fulfill  the  high  hopes  of  its  greatest 
spiritual  leaders  and  statesmen.  To  destroy 
the  faith  of  our  sons  and  daughters  in 
American  democratic  ideals — which  is  pre- 
cisely what  anti-Semitism  is  aiming  to  do — 
is  a  monstrous  thing. 
io  135 


X 

A  FINAL  WORD 

1HAVE  finished  with  the  Dearborn  Inde- 
pendent and  the  flimsy  fabric  of  its 
ridicvilous  charges.  My  self-imposed  task 
is  finished,  and  I  am  content  to  leave  the 
grotesque  legend  of  the  protocols,  together 
with  the  monstrous  and  cruel  charge  based 
upon  them,  to  the  judgment  of  my  fellow 
citizens  of  Gentile  birth.  Into  the  motives 
of  Mr.  Henry  Ford  I  do  not  care  to  enter. 
I  suspect  that  they  are  pathological  in  their 
origin.  Be  that  how  it  may,  my  pity  for 
the  man  is  as  profound  as  my  contempt  for 
the  propaganda  with  which  he  has  chosen 
to  associate  himself.  To  be  capable  of 
deliberately  inciting  and  fostering  race  ha- 
tred at  any  time  is  to  cease  to  be  capable 
of  enjoying  the  fellowship  of  decent  and  just 
136 


A  FINAL  WORD 

men  and  women ;  to  incite  such  hatred  now, 
in  the  midst  of  such  unprecedented  suffering 
and  the  universal  need  of  fellowship  and 
healing,  is  a  pitiful  self -degradation. 

This  organized  propaganda  of  anti-Semi- 
tism has  had  one  wholesome  result  which  its 
organizers  neither  foresaw  nor  intended.  It 
has  called  forth  a  notable  protest  by  men 
and  women  of  Gentile  birth  and  Christian 
faith  which  may  well  stand  as  the  answer 
of  American  civilization  and  democracy  to 
this  ancient  and  hateful  evil.  All  honor  to 
President  Wilson  for  departing  from  official 
traditions  and  placing  his  name  to  that 
protest.  Throughout  the  civilized  world 
that  declaration  has  gone — America's  an- 
swer to  anti-Semitism. 

I  suppose  that  so  long  as  the  imperfections 
of  human  nature  endure,  so  long  as  there 
are  men  and  women  who  are  weak,  selfish, 
cruel,  vengeful,  or  ignorant,  there  will  be 
racial  and  religious  hatreds  to  be  guarded 
against  and  opposed.  I  suppose,  too,  that 
imtil  wars  have  ceased  to  be  possible,  in 
137 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

war's  aftermath  such  hatreds  will  flourish. 
Against  every  form  of  racial  and  religious 
hatred,  against  sectarian  bigotry  and  in- 
tolerance, every  loyal  American  citizen 
should  be  prepared  to  take  an  uncompro- 
mising stand.  That  obligation,  I  take  it, 
is  implicit  in  our  citizenship.  It  is  for 
the  integrity  of  that  citizenship  that  I  am 
concerned  to  plead.  Anti-Semitism  com- 
mands our  special  attention  to-day  because 
it  is  being  spread  by  an  elaborately  organ- 
ized propaganda.  But  the  duty  of  the 
Christian  to  defend  the  Jew  against  perse- 
cution is  neither  greater  nor  less  than  the 
duty  of  the  Protestant  to  defend  the  right 
of  the  Catholic  or  of  all  white  citizens — 
Christians  and  Jews,  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants— to  stand  solidly  against  injustice  to 
the  negro  and  in  defense  of  his  rights  when 
these  are  assailed.  My  plea  is  not  for  pro- 
Semitism  in  opposition  to  anti-Semitism, 
but  for  loyalty  to  American  ideals  in  oppo- 
sition to  any  and  all  attempts  to  divide  our 
citizenship  on  racial  or  religious  lines. 
138 


A   FINAL  WORD 

Because  of  a  reasoned  faith  in  those  prin- 
ciples and  ideals  of  democracy  which 
brought  this  nation  into  being,  and  toward 
the  realization  of  which  we  have  steadily- 
progressed  through  sunshine  and  storm, 
through  peace  and  war,  I  am  opposed  to 
anti-Semitism  and  every  manifestation  of 
it.  Anti-Semitism  and  the  American  ideal 
can  never  be  reconciled.  Far  sooner  shall 
men  reconcile  fire  and  water,  or  mix  oil 
and  water  inseparably,  than  blend  the  cruel 
and  hateful  passions  of  anti-Semitism  with 
the  generous  spirit  of  America.  For  Amer- 
ica's safety  and  honor,  therefore,  I  plead 
for  unity  against  this  sinister  foe  lurking 
within  the  gates,  as  against  all  other  foes, 
no  matter  under  what  flag  they  may  be 
marshaled. 


POSTSCRIPT 

AFTER  the  foregoing  was  written  I  re- 
ceived from  the  head  of  a  great 
American  corporation  a  letter  calHng  my 
attention  to  an  anti-Semitic  pamphlet  pub- 
Hshed  in  New  York  City,  entitled  "Who 
Rules  Russia?"  and  asking  me  for  informa- 
tion concerning  certain  statements  made 
therein.  The  pamphlet  is  printed  in  two 
languages,  English  and  Russian,  and  bears 
the  imprint  of  an  organization  called  "As- 
sociation Unity  of  Russia."  Letters  to  the 
address  given  in  the  pamphlet,  ordering 
copies  of  it,  brought  no  response  of  any  kind 
and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  resort  to 
other  methods  of  obtaining  a  copy.  In- 
cidentally, I  caused  certain  inquiries  to  be 
made  concerning  the  Association  Unity  of 

Russia.     Now  that  I  have  made  a  careful 

140 


POSTSCRIPT 

examination  of  the  pamphlet,  I  do  not  won- 
der that  my  request  that  copies  be  sent  me 
was  ignored.  Certainly  the  publishers  did 
not  intend  that  it  should  be  circulated 
among  persons  familiar  with  the  subject  and 
competent  to  expose  its  misrepresentations. 
So  far  as  I  can  learn,  the  Association 
Unity  of  Russia  is  the  name  of  a  group  of 
Russian  emigres  residing  in  New  York. 
They  are  monarchists  and  reactionaries, 
their  hope  being  the  restoration  of  tsarism. 
Like  most  of  their  kind,  they  are  bitter  Jew- 
baiters.  Their  pamphlet  is  entirely  typical 
of  Russian  anti-Semitism,  particularly  in  its 
reckless  disregard  of  truth.  I  find  here  re- 
produced the  charge  that  "the  Soviet  bu- 
reaucracy is  almost  entirely  controlled  by 
Jews  and  Jewesses."  Not  only  so,  but  it 
is  charged  that  the  non-Bolshevist  Socialist 
parties  are  mainly  composed  of  Jews.  The 
pamphlet  ends  with  the  statement,  "the 
Russian  state  is  actually  dominated  by  the 
Jewish  nation."  There  is  no  argument  in 
the  pamphlet,  which  consists  of  alleged  lists 
141 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

of  officials  classified  according  to  nationality 
and  race. 

That  some  of  these  lists  are  deliberate 
inventions  of  the  anonymous  compiler  or 
compilers  is  quite  certain,  for  the  most  com- 
plete files  of  Bolshevist  publications  in  this 
country  do  not  contain  either  the  lists  or  the 
data  from  which  it  might  be  possible  to 
compile  them.  Other  lists  represent  the 
most  reckless  lying.  For  example,  on  page 
5  I  find  what  purports  to  be  a  list  of  the 
members  of  the  Council  of  the  People's 
Commissars.  The  actual  list,  copied  from 
Bolshevist  official  sources,  I  have  repro- 
duced on  an  earlier  page.  This  fraudulent 
list  contains  twenty -two  names,  of  which 
number  seventeen  are  alleged  to  be  Jews, 
three  Russians,  and  two  Armenians.  Look- 
ing over  the  list,  I  find  that  it  oroits  well- 
known  and  important  commissars  such  as 
the  following:  Raskolnikov  (Navy),  Pe- 
trovsky  (Interior),  Krestinslcy  (Finance), 
Krassin  (Industry  and  Commerce  and 
Transportation),  Sereda  (Agriculture),  Ko- 
142 


POSTSCRIPT 

lontai  (Public  Welfare),  Rykov  (Supreme 
Economic  Council),  Bruchanov  (Supply), 
Smidt  (Labor),  Semashko  (Public  Health), 
and  Bonch-Brouyevich  (Secretary).  All 
these  are  Russians;  there  is  not  a  Jew 
among  them.  The  list  contains,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  names  of  a  n timber  of 
Bolsheviki  who  are  not,  and  who  never 
have  been,  members  of  the  Council  of  the 
People's  Commissars.  Some  of  them  may 
hold  positions  of  minor  importance  in  the 
Soviet  regime  or  in  the  Communist  party. 
The  inclusion  of  their  names  in  this  list  as 
members  of  the  central  government  is  an 
impudent  imposture. 

The  fact  that  the  pamphlet  is  printed  in 
Russian  and  English  is  calculated  to  impress 
and  deceive  the  reader.  No  one  who  knows 
the  situation  will  believe  that  the  use  of 
Russian  had  any  other  purpose  or  that  it 
was  intended  for  propaganda  among  Rus- 
sians. Such  a  document,  partly  printed  in 
Russian  and  purporting  to  be  issued  by 
Russians,  is  relied  upon  to  convince  Amer- 
143 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

icans  that  the  compiler  or  compilers — who 
prefer  to  remain  anonymous — know  what 
they  are  talking  about.  Not  many  will  take 
the  pains  to  scrutinize  the  various  lists 
closely.  Consequently,  even  where  one 
page  contradicts  another,  the  fact  goes  un- 
detected. A  few  examples  will  show  how 
stupid  these  Jew-baiters  are.  On  page  9 
Latsis,  of  the  Extraordinary  Commission,  is 
accurately  described  as  a  Lett,  but  on  page 
23  he  becomes  a  Jew.  Fritchie  is  a  Lett  on 
page  10  and  a  Jew  on  page  22 — and  neither 
description  is  correct. 

On  page  25  Kerensky  is  described  as  a 
Jew,  and  it  is  said  that  his  real  name  is 
Kirbis.  This  legend  has  been  published 
before  and  thoroughly  exposed.  The  fact  is 
that  Kerensky  is  not  a  Jew  and  never 
was  known  by  the  name  of  Kirbis  or  any 
other  name  than  Kerensky.  He  never  par- 
ticipated in  the  "underground"  work  of  the 
revolutionary  movement  and  therefore  had 
no  need  of  an  alias.  Alexander  Fedorovich 
Kerensky  comes  from  an  old  Russian  family 
144 


POSTSCRIPT 

thoroughly  orthodox  and  respectable.  His 
history  has  been  completely  explored.  No. 
The  anonymous  Jew-baiters  have  simply  re- 
produced a  silly  legend  that  appeared  in  the 
reactionary  anti-Semitic  sheet,  Novoye  Vre- 
mia,  of  Petrograd,  shortly  before  the  revolu- 
tion of  March,  19 17,  and  was  immediately 
exposed  and  ridiculed. 

In  an  examination  of  the  various  lists  of 
names  given  I  find  at  least  twenty-five  in- 
stances of  non-Jews,  principally  Russians, 
being  described  as  Jews.  I  find,  also,  many 
Jewish  names  purporting  to  be  the  names  of 
Bolshevist  officials  of  some  importance, 
though  it  is  safe  to  say  that  they  were  never 
heard  of  by  any  student  of  contemporary 
Russian  affairs.  I  do  not  say  that  no  such 
persons  exist,  but  I  do  assert  that  if  they 
exist  they  do  not  hold  the  positions  attrib- 
uted to  them,  and  that  even  their  names 
are  not  to  be  found  in  the  Bolshevist  jour- 
nals from  which  this  pamphlet  is  said  to 
have  been  compiled.  Perhaps  some  of  the 
members  of  the  pathetic  little  group  of 
14s 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN   IDEALS 

Russian  monarchist  emigres  who  meet 
weekly  in  the  basement  of  a  certain  church 
to  pray  for  the  restoration  of  tsarism  will 
condescend  to  tell  us  how  the  names  were 
chosen. 

How  stupid  these  pious  humbugs  are  in 
their  forgeries!  Here  is  a  list  of  names 
alleged  to  be  a  complete  list  of  members  of 
the  Central  Committee  of  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party  Mensheviki.  Of  course  all  are 
Jews.  I  look  over  the  list  and  see  at  once 
that  three  of  those  named  are  not  even 
members  of  that  party,  let  alone  of  its 
supreme  authority.  Ratner,  Rappoport, 
and  Gotz  do  not  belong  to  that  party,  but 
are  prominent  as  leaders  in  the  Socialists- 
Revolutionists  party.  Perhaps  there  are 
other  mistakes  in  this  list — but  what  is  the 
use  of  wasting  time  in  checking  it  further? 
Here  is  another  list,  even  more  defective, 
which  is  offered  as  a  list  of  the  members  of 
the  Central  Committee  of  the  party  of 
Socialists-Revolutionists  of  the  Right.  It 
contains  fifteen  names,  of  which  fourteen 
146 


POSTSCRIPT 

are  Jews  and  only  one,  that  of  Tchaykovsky, 
is  a  Russian.  But  Tchaykovsky  is  not  a 
member  of  this  party  at  all  and,  therefore, 
not  of  its  Central  Committee.  He  belongs 
to  the  party  of  People's  Socialists.  In  the 
list  I  find  the  names  of  Lvovitch  and  Berlin - 
rout,  who  likewise  do  not  belong  to  this 
party  and  are  not  members  of  the  com- 
mittee in  question.  They  are  well-known 
leaders  of  the  Zionists-Socialists.  Abramo- 
vitch  and  Khintchouk  are  included  in  this 
utterly  worthless  list,  though  they  do  not 
belong  to  the  party  of  Socialists-Revolu- 
tionists of  the  Right,  but  to  the  Social 
Democratic  party. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  many  of  my  readers 
will  care  very  much  about  the  party  affilia- 
tions of  these  men  or  about  the  factional 
divisions  of  Russian  Socialism.  The  fact 
that  this  latest  addition  to  the  pamphlet 
literature  of  anti-Semitism  emanates  from 
Russian  sources  and  is  printed  partly  in 
Russian  gives  it  an  appearance  of  authority 
that  is  wholly  unjustified  by  its  content. 
147 


THE  JEW  AND  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

It  has  seemed  to  me  worth  while,  therefore, 
to  call  attention  to  its  clumsy  misrepre- 
sentations, its  self-contradictions,  its  stupid 
blunders,  and  its  stupendous  effrontery. 
This  precious  example  of  Russian  mon- 
archistic  anti-Semitic  literature  is  just  about 
fit  to  be  placed  alongside  the  Dearborn 
Independent. 


THE  END 


JOHN  SPARGO'S   BOOKS 

"THE  GREATEST  FAILURE  IN  ALL  HISTORY" 

From  the  Soviet's  own  documents  and  from  the  speeches 
of  its  leaders,  Mr.  Spargo  shows  how  Sovietism  in  its  orig- 
inal form  has  failed  to  cope  with  unavoidable  human 
inecjualities,  and  under  economic  pressure  has  developed 
into  a  high-handed  autocracy  which  is  worse  than  Tsardom 
and  which  completely  subverts  the  chief  aims  of  Bol- 
shevism. Crown,  8vo,  Cloth.     486  pages 

RUSSIA  AS  AN  AMERICAN  PROBLEM 

"Even  those  who  may  not  accept  Mr.  Spargo's  con- 
clusions, or  respect  his  fears,  will  welcome  his  book  because 
of  the  vast  amount  of  information  and  figures  he  has 
brought  together  relating  to  the  timely  subject  of  trade 
with  Russia." — N.  Y.  Globe.  Crown  8vo.     444  pages 

BOLSHEVISM 

A  record  of  the  facts,  leaders,  and  policies  of  Bolshevism, 
being  both  an  interpretation  of  its  theories  and  principles 
and  a  history  of  rise  to  power.  The  book  contains  also  the 
best  brief  history  of  the  whole  tragic  Russian  revolutionary 
movement.  Post  Svo,  Cloth.      389  pages 

THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  BOLSHEVISM 

"Mr.  Spargo  has  not  used  pen  or  typewriter  in  this 
book,  but  an  X-ray." — N.  Y.  Globe. 

Post  Svo,  Cloth.     152  pages 

SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY  EXPLAINED 

States  in  simple,  popular,  and  untechnical  language  the 
essentials  of  the  Socialism  of  the  Marxian  school — not 
only  of  the  philosophical  and  economic  theories  of  So- 
cialism, but  of  the  principles  underlying  the  policies  of  the 
Socialist  movement.  Post  Svo.     Cloth.     338  pages 

AMERICANISM  AND  SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY 

Written  early  in  1918,  shows  that  the  essentials  of  a 
sane,  constructive  Socialist  program  have  been  developed 
in  America;  that  however  alien  to  our  national  life  and 
thought  certain  Socialist  theoretical  formulations  may 
be,  the  fundamental  essentials  are  thoroughly  American. 
Post  8  vo.     Cloth.     326  pages 

If  not  at  your  booksellers,  write  to 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


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